There are places where history feels distant, something preserved behind glass or flattened into the pages of a book. The Acropolis and Delphi in Greece are not like that.

Some houses are designed. Others are assembled. The Wharton Esherick House feels as though it was grown.

Some places impress through grandeur. Shofuso, the Japanese Cultural Center in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, achieves something more difficult: it creates a profound sense of calm.