ESSAY: The blends with environment in Great (bamboo) Wall - A manifesto of the ‘Anti-Object’ concept by Kengo Kuma

Collaboration between humans and nature has been critical subjects constantly referred in Eastern culture, spatial design, and architecture. Designed by Kengo Kuma, The Great (Bamboo) Wall 2002 (fg.1) is part of the project "Commune By The Great Wall", located in Juyongguan, nearby the Great Wall of China. Its signifcance within the discipline of architecture has been the catalyst for my investigation. This internal-external articulation of space is generally reflected in Kuma's appeal on his conjecture of 'Anti-Object'.1 Kuma addresses environmental and intangible qualities as intrinsic to architectural condition to form 'environmental connection systems'.2 architecture critic has also been alarmed by "Le Corbusier's stubborn pursuit" of architectural designs that only make sense at the formal level4 Upon being revealed to the public, this theory stirred up rebellion against and criticism of modern architectural forms, thereby polarising critics. 5 whether they are sitting or standing, and that "terra frma" is continuously "operating as its proportional figuration"15 This indicates that all possible relationships between entity and space depend on the changing form of the ground. Kuma contended that architecture should be 'Anti-object', which becoming unified with the surrounding space to create a holistic relationship 16 . Kuma's other work, Kiro-san Observatory (fig.2), achieves the ultimate union between the building and the surrounding landscape. It restores Kiro-san's mountain contour and explores the recessed form to conceal architecture in17. like a framework that accentuates the surrounding environment. This strategy supports the essay's main argument, which utilises site-specifcity in 'Anti-object' to interlinking architecture and nature. The following discussion further examines the specific aspect of the "Anti-object" strategy: how the harmony between human and nature is consummated through space confguration in the Great (Bamboo) Wall.

The 'Anti-object' concept may be considered an excessive obliteration of architecture6, but ideally, architecture that blends with its surroundings can act as a 'device'7 that connects mankind to environment. Kuma consistently shows an extraordinary prudence and awareness of local conditions and spatial layering8. The Great (Bamboo) Wall endeavours to complement the structure of the Great Wall along the ridgeline through topography and space arrangement. 9 Similar to Bruno Taut and Antonin Raymond's 'ecoarchitecture', which pursues a balanced strategy between architecture and the surroundings through use of materials,10 Kuma utilises site conditions and the properties of bamboo material to realise the openness of architecture in terms of construction and perception in the Great (Bamboo) Wall.

This essay will examine significant aspects of the 'Anti-object' strategy embodied in the Great (Bamboo) Wall, including site-specificity11 spatial layering 12, and material properties 13, and also explore how it blends with nature to provide a serene, interconnected experience for the public.

The theory of 'Anti- object' comes mainly from Kuma's aversion to the long-standing tendency of architecture to focus exclusively on form and visual appeal advocated by Le Corbusier 3 Nonetheless, Kuma is not the only architect to promote 'Anti-object' concept. Reyner Banham, a British

1 Kengo Kuma, Anti-object: The dissolution and disintegration of architecture (London: AA Publishing, 2008), 8.

First aspect in the 'Anti-object' concept is anchoring site context, which respecting the dominance of the topography over architecture. Weiner suggests that architects should have an "environmental [and] topographical based consciousness of architecture" 14 . Site context is a primary factor encountered in architecture as it plays a complementary role in architectural space. One of the foremost architectural historians and critics, Joseph Rykwert, argued that people depended on the solid and stable ground,

2 Jose Maria Cabeza Lainez and Juan Ramon Jimenez Verdejo, "The Japanese experience of environmental architecture through the works of Bruno Taut and Antonin Raymond," Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering 6, no. (2007): 39, https://doi.org/10.3130/jaabe.6.33.

3 Jared Langevin, "Reyner Banham: In Search of an Imageable, Invisible Architecture," Architectural Theory Review 16, no. 1 (2011): 3, doi: 10.1080/13264826.2011.560389.

4 Ibid, 4.

Similarly, Great (bamboo) wall refutes the perception that architecture must be a separate, disconnected whole from its environment. Instead, it affrms that the ground is a dominant spatial form, turning the base of architecture into a long, segmented plane placed at ground level, forming a complete continuum to match the undulating terrain of the site (fg.3&4).

This enables it to effectively blend with the local environment, and it seems

5 Roger Pulvers, "Architect Kuma Kengo:'a product of place'," ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL-JAPAN FOCUS 11, no. 26 (2013): 2, https://apjjf.org/-Roger-Pulvers/4141/article.pdf.

6 Frank Weiner, "Architecture as such: refutations and conjectures of quality in the work of Kengo Kuma and WG Clark," arq: Architectural Research Quarterly 11, no. 3-4 (2007): 249, doi: 10.1017/S1359135500000749.

7 Pulvers, "Architect Kuma Kengo:'a product of place'," 3.

8 Matteo Bel ore, "On Japanese Spatial Layering," Le Carre Bleu-Feuille Internationale D'architecture, no.2 (2012): 1, http://www.lecarrebleu.eu/allegati/LCB%202-2012_INGLESE_.pdf.

9 "Great (Bamboo) Wall," KENGO KUMA AND ASSOCIATES, published October 2002, https://kkaa.co.jp/works/architecture/great-bamboo-wall/.

10 Cabeza et al., "The Japanese experience of environmental architecture," 33.

11 Miwon Kwon, "One Place after Another: Notes on Site Speci city," October 80, no.1 (1997): 85, doi:10.2307/778809.

12 Bel ore, "On Japanese Spatial Layering," 1.

13 Jin Baek, "Between Material Sensuousness and Thingness: the Signi cance of the Structural Glass in Kengo Kuma’s Water/Glass House from the Perspective of Phenomenology," Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering 12, no. (2013): 1, https://doi.org/10.3130/jaabe.12.1.

14 Weiner, "Architecture as such," 245.

15 Baek, "Between Material Sensuousness and Thingness," 4.

16 Xiao-Li Fu, "Research on the Architectural Design Method of Green Materials Related to Teahouse Space: Taking the Bamboo House for example," IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol. 186, no. 2 (2018): 2, doi:10.1088/1755-1315/186/2/012057.

17 Kuma, Anti-object, 59-77.

18 Lainez and Verdejo, "The Japanese experience of environmental architecture," 37.

19 Belfore, "On Japanese Spatial Layering,"

Secondly, spatial layering creates fuidity over exterior and interior spaces. Indeed, spatial hierarchy, put forward in the 'Anti-object' theory is an important concept, especially when linking architecture to its external environment. Different from the excessive use of concrete in Western architectural spaces, Japanese culture has a knack for using partitions and blinds to give architecture a sense of openness and transparency18. Matteo Belfore posited that the spatial connections shape the spatial order within architecture, realising a "continuum fuid space"19. In support, Hanlon Don argued that the types of spatial layering in architecture can be "horizontal, vertical, concentric and radial"20.