KENGO KUMA

to p o g rap h y

KENGO KUMA

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introduction Transforming Topography, Kengo Kuma

Particle 14

Great (Bamboo) Wall

18 24

Yusuhara Town Hall Community Market Yusuhara

32

Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum

38

GC Prostho Museum Research Center

46

FRAC Marseille

56

Starbucks Coffee at Dazaifutenmangu Omotesando

62

SunnyHills Japan

68

Coeda House

74

Tetchan

80

Beijing Tea House

88

Jeju Ball

94

Hongkou SOHO

104

The Exchange

110

Wood / Pile

116

Jyubako

Oblique 124

Nezu Museum

130

Mont-Blanc Base Camp

140

Asakusa Culture Tourism Information Center

146

China Academy of Art’s Folk Art Museum

154

Portland Japanese Garden

162

Stone Card Castle

168

Xiangcheng Yangcheng Lake Tourist Transportation Center

178

COMICO Art Museum Yufuin / COMICO Art House Yufuin

186

Roof / Birds

192

Japan National Stadium

202

Floating Tea House

206

Hojo-an Pavilion After 800 Years

212

Oribe Tea House

216

Takanawa Gateway Station

224

Breath/ng

Perforation 232

Besançon Art Center and Cité de la Musique

242

Toyama Kirari

250

V&A Dundee

Time 264

Komatsu Seiren Fabric Laboratory fa-bo

270

Shipyard 1862

278

Beijing Qianmen

Appendix 286

Company Profile

296

Index of Projects

contents

Membrane

Introduction

Transforming Topography Kengo Kuma

My key focus throughout the 1990s was on making architecture disappear. The abnormally high economic growth that had continued through the 1980s in Japan led to a bubble, and the economy suddenly stalled at the beginning of the 1990s. I had been extremely busy as an architect for a number of years, but in the 1990s suddenly all jobs were canceled without any prior warning.

The 1990s in Japan were such a quiet time, when everything was truly dark. Some people in Japan call this the Lost Decade, during which time there were very few jobs in Tokyo. Since there was nothing to do, I traveled to various regions around Japan; I had various encounters during my travels, and met quite a few interesting people. Having periods when you do not have any work is very important in the life of an architect.

I met a number of people on an island called Ooshima in the Seto Inland Sea and was asked to design an observatory that would stand out. In my view, they undoubtedly thought that since I was an architect who had done work during the boom era and economic bubble in Tokyo during the 1980s, I could thus create an observatory that would really stand out. My feelings, however, were facing in an entirely different direction from that of the 1980s’ assertive aesthetics: instead, I really wanted to make architecture disappear into its surroundings.

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I strongly disliked the part of myself as an architect that had created conspicuous architecture in a celebratory manner during the boom of the 1980s, as well as my predecessors. I was totally disgusted by all of it.

In spite of the fact that I was being asked to design a conspicuous observatory, I wanted to design an observatory that could not be seen. My actions were quite perverse.

The easiest way to make architecture disappear is to bury it underground. I thought that the functions required for an observation deck, including the deck itself, the steps that approach it, and the restrooms, should all be covered with earth to make them disappear. I realized something very important when I was making a model to study this design: I became aware that in fact the architecture really did not disappear at all.

Even though I thought that I had made the architecture disappear, new topography appeared in that location. I had created topography instead of architecture. The important thing that I realized was that it is impossible to make architecture disappear. I became aware that while I thought I had made the architecture invisible, something else was inevitably created in its place. I had not noticed that I was responsible for what was being created in that location. Thus, I assumed responsibility for the new topography that was being created in place of architecture.

This responsibility may be something that is even more serious than creating architecture. Since the life of architecture can generally be counted in the dozens of years, you could adopt the attitude that eventually it will no longer be in that location.

However, this is not true for topography. While topography changes in varying ways due to the effects of wind and rain, it continues to remain in that location forever. When you create topography that continues to exist for that inexorable length of time, you need to assume a level of responsibility commensurate with that fact. When I realized this, the way that I created architecture completely changed. The bursting of the economic bubble made me aware of this important thing.

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O B LIQ UE

Nezu Museum Location Tokyo, Japan Completion 2009 Collaborators Shimuzu Corporation; Kokuyo Furniture; Seifuen area 43,206 ft2 (4,014 m2) Principal use Art museum Photography Mitsumasa Fujitsuka N E ZU MUSE U M

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The design theme for this museum in the center of Tokyo consisted of adopting a unique roof design to blend the interior space with the garden. The interior display space was made integral with the garden by providing large glass openings in an attempt to merge the garden, building, and artwork. Surrounded by a verdant garden and featuring a bamboo-lined approach, the focus was to create spiritual art space that provides a respite from the hustle and bustle of the city.

N E ZU MUSE U M

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N E ZU MUSE U M

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Kengo Kuma is a globally acclaimed Japanese architect whose prodigious output possesses an inherent respect and value of materials and environment, often creating a harmonious balance between building and landscape. He masterfully engages both architectural experimentation and traditional Japanese design with twenty-first-century technology, resulting in highly advanced yet beautifully simple, gentle, humanscaled buildings. He’s renowned for the drive to search for new materials to replace concrete and steel, seeking a new approach for architecture in a post-industrial society, and fusing interior and exterior realms to make spaces that both create a calming and tranquil atmosphere and which “transform” topography.

In the pages of this exquisitely illustrated volume, Kuma presents close to forty of his most recognized and award-winning works, including FRAC Marseille, V&A Dundee, Mont-Blanc Base Camp, and Japan National Stadium. Kuma continues to forge a new design language: in this book he offers the reader deep insight into how he has engaged with different aspects of the architectural discipline by transforming topography, construction, and representation in order to give further progress to his ideas.

ISBN 9781864708455 ISBN 9781864708455

9 781864 708455 9 781864 708455

57500 57500

$75.00 [USA] £60.00 [GB]

FRAC Marseille’s beautifully evocative and ambiguous façade, coupled with its multi-dimensional concept, becomes a signal of contemporary art and asserts the building’s characteristic landmark identity.

(Photography: Nicolas Waltefaugle)