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. esigned b engo u a he reat a boo all fig. is art of the project "Commune By The Great Wall", located in Juyongguan, nearby the reat all of hina. ts significance within the disci line 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 nti b ect . u a addresses environ ental and intangible ualities 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 level . Upon being revealed to the public, this theory stirred up rebellion against and criticism of modern architectural forms, thereby polarising critics. 5 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. i ilar to runo aut and ntonin a ond s eco architecture', which pursues a balanced strategy between architecture and the surroundings through use of materials, 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.
whether the are sitting or standing and that terra fir a is continuousl "operating as its proportional figuration" 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 . 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 in .
This essay will examine significant aspects of the 'Anti-object' strategy embodied in the Great (Bamboo) Wall, including site-specificity , spatial layering , and material properties , and also explore how it blends with nature to provide a serene, interconnected experience for the public.
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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 Corbusier3. Nonetheless, Kuma is not the only architect to promote 'Anti-object' concept. Reyner Banham, a British
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" . ite conte t is a ri ar 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,
1 Kengo Kuma, Anti-object: The dissolution and disintegration of architecture (London: AA Publishing, 2008), 8. 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. 1 (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. 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 H 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 Belfiore, "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 Specificity," October 80, no.1 (1997): 85, doi:10.2307/778809. 12 Belfiore, "On Japanese Spatial Layering," 1. 13 Jin Baek, "Between Material Sensuousness and Thingness: the Significance 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. 1 (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. elfiore n a anese atial a ering . 20 Ibid, 2.
like a framework that accentuates the surrounding environment. This strateg su orts the essa s ain argu ent which utilises site s ecificit 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 s ace configuration in the reat a boo all.
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i ilarl reat ba boo wall refutes the erce tion that architecture ust be a se arate disconnected whole fro its environ ent. nstead it affir s 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 continuu to atch the undulating terrain of the site fig. . This enables it to effectively blend with the local environment, and it seems
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econdl s atial la ering creates uidit over e terior and interior s aces. 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 transparency . Matteo elfiore osited that the s atial connections sha e the s atial order within architecture realising a continuu uid s ace . In support, Hanlon Don argued that the types of spatial layering in architecture can be "horizontal, vertical, concentric and radial"20.