WHAT I’VE LEARNED
KENGO KUMA: ‘While I was a student at the University of Tokyo in the late 1970s, I worked part time for my teacher, architect Hiroshi Hara. I can remember that period vividly – staying in his office overnight for days at a time, making maquettes. When I saw an established architect like Hiroshi Hara working overnight, I had to do the same. It was an eye-opening experience. I did not know a famous architect would work through the night.’ ‘Hara told me that you can become an architect if you stay close to an architect. What he meant was that by spending your days and nights with an architect, you realize that he is like any other human being – an ordinary person. People think architecture is a special profession. But once you discover an architect is just like you or me, you feel as if you can become one, too.’ ‘At one point I was able to accompany my teacher to the Sahara for a two-month expedition. Imagine: just the two of us together, day and night, for 60 days. I got to know Hara as a person. As an architecture student, I saw it as such a precious experience, and a privilege, to have an architect all to myself. As I listened to his views on life, I began to think that I, too, could become an architect.’ ‘After working for several years at one of the biggest construction companies in the industry, I studied at Columbia University in New York City as a visiting scholar. The approach to architecture there was very different from that of Japan. Architects in Japan are expected to be good draughtsmen
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KENGO craftsmen who shared their know-how with me. We ate together, and they talked about the local way of living. They taught me how materials from the area – wood, bamboo, paper – are traditionally used in Japanese ‘As someone who returned from the States buildings, and proved how sustainable they with no realized projects, I found it difficult are. Through spending so much time together, to get a commission in Japan. I started with working on a project, I became very close a modest project in a small town, Yusuhara, with the craftsmen and nurtured trust. I which is in Kōchi Prefecture in southwest respect the skills of craftspeople, and they in Japan. The mayor there asked me to design turn trust me. Their skills give me hints on a small public restroom. I had no work at the time, so I was thrilled and immediately agreed. how to infuse craftsmanship into a project.’ Then in 1994 the mayor again approached me ‘I listen to clients, of course. And in the case to do a larger project in the same region: the of public buildings, I listen to the citizens who Kumo-no-Ue-no Hotel.’ will use the building in the future. Gaining trust from the public is very important, which ‘I always treasure meeting people. Architecis why I try to be on site when there is a public ture is the result of mutual trust, and it takes time to build belief among people. During the hearing on a project – wherever it may be.’ recession in the early 1990s, it was difficult ‘Architecture students believe that realizing for architectural projects to be realized in aspirational projects stems from visionary Japan. Young architects had no work. Occaideas. No. Grand projects do not suddenly sionally, I would get a small project in the materialize from grand ideas. I always tell my remote countryside. I had no choice. But since I had plenty of time, I spent many hours students that it is more important to build with local carpenters, stone-carvers and other mutual trust between people.’ who can draw lines. But at Columbia, being a good architect was based on the ability to convincingly articulate ideas.’
‘Grand projects do not suddenly materialize from grand ideas’
‘I am still not satisfied with what I do. When I finish a project, I believe I have done my job. But as the years pass, I think of things that I could have done better – small aspects that I could have taken into consideration. Then, as I move to the next project, this feeling of a lack of accomplishment subsides. I always learn from my past. I determine the lesson and incorporate it into my next project. Together, my works are a progression of finding mistakes and making improvements. I have now worked on five projects in the town of Yusuhara, and I am not satisfied with any of them. But in the end, an architect needs to be hungry – to feel unsatisfied – in order to find motivation and move forward.’ »
