Kengo Kuma on Architecture (9784805320952)

"The answer was not simply to erase architecture, nor to make it stand out. The challenge was to discover the right "relationship" between a building and the place where it stands." —Kengo Kumo

Kengo Kuma, one of Japan's most highly awarded architects, reflects on the origins of his design philosophy and his long and distinguished career. He describes the Tokyo neighborhoods that shaped him—from Okurayama and Denenchofu to Yoyogi and beyond—and traces the experiences, encounters and ideas that led him to question the heavy, assertive architecture dominant at the time.

In its place, he developed an approach rooted in relationships: with site, with the senses, with memory, and with natural materials such as bamboo, wood, paper, fabric, ceramic and earth.

Kuma's groundbreaking design philosophy has given rise to many iconic projects, including:

• Kirosan Observatory: "Anti-architecture" that seeks to erase form, leaving only landscape and experience
• The Water/Glass Villa: an early project exploring architecture as a transparent, "invisible" form
• Hiroshige Museum of Art: organized around a large opening that reconnects the town with its historic shrine
• Nezu Museum: approached through a bamboo grove that transitions visitors from city to calm
• SunnyHills Pineapple Cake Shop: a delicate wooden lattice structure using traditional Japanese joinery to create remarkable lightness and transparency
• Plus 21 other notable projects

Kuma's work pursues designs that yield quietly to their surroundings. This reflects his idea of makeru kenchiku,"architecture that loses" —buildings that do not impose themselves on a site, but instead listen to it, respond to it, and are shaped by it.This book is both an account of Kuma's award-winning projects and an accessible introduction to the history, materials and ideas behind contemporary Japanese architecture.


About the Author:
Kengo Kuma received a master's degree in architecture from the University of Tokyo and served as a visiting researcher at Columbia University before founding Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990. He has taught at Keio University and the University of Tokyo, and is a member of the Japan Art Academy. Today, his practice spans 50 countries with notable completed projects that include the Suntory Museum of Art and Nezu Museum in Tokyo and the LVMH Japan Headquarters in Osaka. He has received dozens of awards including the Architectural Institute of Japan Award, the American Institute of Architects Benedictus Award, the Louis Kahn Award and the prestigious Praemium Imperiale from the Japanese Emperor on behalf of the Japan Art Association.

Mira Locher is an architect and educator who works in the US, Canada and Japan. She studied at Smith College before receiving her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After working for Team Zoo Atelier Mobile in Japan, she set up an architectural practice in the US with Takayuki Murakami (www.kajikaarchitecture.com). She is dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba and the author of many books including Japanese Architecture, Zen Gardens and Zen Garden Design.