“Take-wa, Bamboo Ring” is the pavilion built for London Design Festival. Using the new composite material made by bamboo and carbon fiber, we designed a donut shaped structure with its one end lifted up in the air.
The whole structure consists of 120 of 1.8m diameter rings made of the composite material woven by zip-ties. Combination of the traditional material camboo and the high-tech material carbon fiber achieved the light weight (structure can be held up by six people) and transparent structure.
Project team: Kengo Kuma laboratory, The University of TokyoPhotography by Ed ReevePhotography by The University of Tokyo, Kengo Kuma Laboratoryロンドン,イギリス 2019.09 85m² パビリオン
Developer / City of Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture 事業主 / 寝屋川市Site / Neyagawa, Osaka, Japan 敷地 / 大阪府、寝屋川市 Site area / 29,650 m2 敷地面積 / 約29,650 m2 Total floor area / 19,500㎡ (as planned)延床面積 / 約19,500㎡ (予定)
Azusa Sekkei Co., Ltd.and Kengo Kuma & Associates and OHBA ＆ CO. Joint venture won the 1st prize for the design proposal of the unified elementary through junior high school project in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
Please see the following website for further information: Neyagawa city website : link
The submission by Kengo Kuma & Associates in collaboration with K2LD Architects has been selected as the winner of the international architectural design competition for the Founders’ Memorial. The competition, launched in January 2019, attracted a strong response of 193 submissions from local and foreign firms.
The design concept originates from the idea of a path, a journey tracing the legacy of Singapore’s founding leaders to honor the past and to inspire the present and future. The design aims to be a living memorial, owned by each new generation of Singaporeans, with spaces for the celebration of milestone events and slopes that can be ascended, with a vision to the future the changing skyline of Singapore.
More than a singular building, we envision a garden: a place for all to gather close to nature. The Founders’ Path, as a central spine, defines the new topography with memorial slopes emerging from the landscape. Multiple paths and canopies extend into the garden, creating a seamless journey that invites visitors to reflect, learn and share while contemplating amidst the lush surroundings.
“The Founders’ Memorial, a new kind of monument.”
Project Team: Rita Topa, Tan Wei Ming, Fabio Bellini, Zhang Liang, Romeo Chang, Takahiro Hirayama, Philippe Chassais
The submission by Kengo Kuma & Associates in collaboration with K2LD Architects has been selected as the winner of the international architectural design competition for the Founders’ Memorial. The competition, launched in January 2019, attracted a strong response of 193 submissions from local and foreign firms.
The design concept originates from the idea of a path, a journey tracing the legacy of Singapore’s founding leaders to honor the past and to inspire the present and future. The design aims to be a living memorial, owned by each new generation of Singaporeans, with spaces for the celebration of milestone events and slopes that can be ascended, with a vision to the future the changing skyline of Singapore.
More than a singular building, we envision a garden: a place for all to gather close to nature. The Founders’ Path, as a central spine, defines the new topography with memorial slopes emerging from the landscape. Multiple paths and canopies extend into the garden, creating a seamless journey that invites visitors to reflect, learn and share while contemplating amidst the lush surroundings.
“The Founders’ Memorial, a new kind of monument.”
Project Team: Rita Topa, Tan Wei Ming, Fabio Bellini, Zhang Liang, Romeo Chang, Takahiro Hirayama, Philippe Chassais
Setagaya Art Museum holds “A Playful World of the Imagination : The Studio of Murai Masanari” from February 8, 2020.
Dates:Saturday, February 8 – Sunday, April 5, 2020 Hours:10:00AM – 6:00PM (last entry:30 min.before closing time) Closed:Mondays except February 24, and Tuesday, February 25. Place:1st floor galleries Organized by:Setagaya Art Museum (Setagaya Arts Foundation) Admission:Adults 1,000yen / Seniors(over 65) 800yen / University and high school students 800yen / Junior high and elementary school students 500yen
Sakai-machi is the first exporter of a Japanese tea called Sashima-cha (green tea from Sashima) to the world. With the theme of tea, we designed a restaurant which is run by the town on the banks of Tone River, in Ibaraki Prefecture.
We first constructed a planter from local cedar, for growing tea. These planters were laid out in varying angles to express an organic expression across the façade, and connect to the existing roadside station. Rather than designing the restaurant as a single building, we aimed to reproduce the architectural rhythm of Sakai-machi, where old warehouses once lined the river.
Inside the restaurant, we collected old tea boxes of Sashima-Cha to create walls and service counters. From the ceiling we suspended fabric dyed green with Sashima-cha, as a way to introduce the softness and freshness of the tea into the interior.
A new station on the Yamanote Loop line in Tokyo will become its 30th. It will open at the same time as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The station name was chosen with the expectation that it will become a new sea and land gateway for Tokyo that is integrated with the “New Town” that is being developed on a 13 hectare site in front of the station. A large membrane structure roof was placed over the town and station in order to provide a seamless connection between them. The membrane is supported by an Origami shaped frame that is made with steel beams and laminated Japanese cedar members. Differing from conventional stations, the space on the inside of the station is a bright wide open space with a high ceiling. The combination of the wood frame and white membrane evokes an image of “shoji screens” in Japan that use Japanese handmade paper. A traditional technique called “Yamato-bari” was used for the walls in which wooden boards are applied to give the wall an uneven surface. This created a warm space on a human scale that is not found in conventional stations.
Kenjo-tei is located along a street of tea shops, across from Kenrokuen in Kanazawa, one of the most famous gardens in Japan. Here, we transformed an old tea house into a restaurant and gift shop. One of the tasks was to reinforce the old building with the technique of Sashimono, (woodworking joints), which has been adopted to support houses in the snow-heavy region of Hokuriku. As a result, we designed a large space of darkness, crisscrossed with wooden frames. To reinforce the roof truss, we employed carbon fiber cables to highlight a merging of new and old technology developed in Ishikawa prefecture. Kanazawa was a town of Edo-typed samurai (warrior) residences, where varying levels of darkness were generated throughout the space. We selected materials for the interior to revive such an atmosphere, punctuating the darkness with lamps sprinkled with gold leaves.
Yokohama, Japan Köln, Germany 2018.10(Yokohama)/2019.03(Köln) 200㎡(Yokohama)/462㎡(Köln) Exhibition
This mobile pavilion is inspired by Japanese traditional craft called “Ireko: Nesting” . It is assembled from various size of aluminum boxes, which can be easily dismantled and put together again in a nest-like structure. With these laser-cut aluminum boxes, KKAA and GC have created an airy configuration, emulating the branches of a tree. When the boxes are stacked up, an inspirational space appears, like trees in a forest. The concept of “Ireko: Nesting” merges Japanese traditional craftsmanship with advanced technology, an idea also adopted as GC’s corporate philosophy; a conservative yet innovative approach.
Kyoto, Japan 2019.11.29-12.1 Exhibition 140 m²(Gaku-den of Heian Jingu), 1000㎡(the former printing house for Kyoto Shimbun)
We’ve taken part in an exhibition of a project titled LEXUS NEW TAKUMI PROJECT, which promotes Japan’s “Takumi”, fine craftsmanship, throughout Japan. This time, we designed the venues for this exhibition that took place at two distinctive places in Kyoto, Gaku-den of Heian Jingu and the former printing house for Kyoto Shimbun. At Heian Jingu, we worked with two young craftsmen to create two objects. With Kenta Hirai, we produced a cocoon-shaped pavilion titled GURU-GURU by bending pieces of cedar trees from Yoshino-yama mountian. The second object was with Daisuke Iwamoto from Tosa (Kochi prefecture). He is an expert of kumiki, an art of interlocking wooden blocks, and together we made a piece of furniture with a set of curved kumiki.
Project team: Shin Ohba, Mitsuharu Yoshisato, Yuya Mori
Co-designed with DESIGN ASSOCIATION, Kenta Hirai, Daisuke Iwamoto and DENTSU LIVE Construction by SHOEI BIJUTSU
LEXUS NEW TAKUMI PROJECTの一環として、日本の「匠」の技を世界へ発信する展覧会の会場を、京都の2つの特別な空間─平安神宮額殿、京都新聞社印刷工場跡─でデザインした。 平安神宮では2人の若い匠と僕自身が共働して、2つのオブジェクトを作った。ひとつは吉野の平井健太と吉野杉を曲げて作ったGURU-GURUというマユのようなパビリオン。もうひとつは土佐の組木の職人岩本大輔と作ったGUNE-GUNEという、曲面状の組木を使った家具である。
KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES in Tokyo is recruiting new staff in administrative position.
Description of Job :
Public relations, secretary related to architect office and includes assistant role in administrative section.
Requirements :
Interested in architecture and art, Architecture Diploma and/or BA degree desirable
Japanese essential and business level English proficiency
Excellent PC skills (Excel, Word)
Excellent communication and organization skills
Flexible and Positive response are necessary
Working days：Monday -Friday (Saturday・Sunday・National Holiday)
Compensation：Company Standard
To Apply :
Please send your letter and CV either by mail or access to recruit only application system. However we would not return the application documents to the applicants. We are replying only who passed the documentary screening in 2 months from the time we received the application documents.
KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES HR Department 2-24-8 Minamiaoyama Minato-ku Tokyo 107-0062 Japan
I just finished writing two books. I surprised myself that I was able to find the time to write two books while I was so busy with the design of the new National Stadium, but it can also be said that this was the perfect time to write them. That is to say, the level of pressure caused by the “New National Stadium” that I had never experienced in my life before pushed me to write these two books. If I had not been involved in the “New National Stadium” project, it would not have been possible for me to create these two books.
One of these books is called “Point and Line to Plane”, and is being published by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers. I decided that I wanted to summarize the differences between architects in the former generation that use the same architectural methods that I do, and architects in the age of modernism that came before this. I call the method that I use of “Point and Line to Plane” the particle method. “Point and Line to Plane” has the same name as the book authored by Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian painter who was a central figure at the Bauhaus. I was shocked when I read this book while in high school, and have kept it by my side ever since then. What excited me even more while I was writing my version of “Point and Line to Plane” was thinking about the parallel relationship of modern physics since the advent of quantum mechanics and my methods.
Corbusier and other modernists thought that they had a parallel relationship with Einstein, but it appears to me that the basis of modernism was the static mechanics of Newton. The movement of objects in space according to equations created by Newton represented the first stage of classical mechanics. In the second stage, time and space were connected, but there was still not a law (equation). The age of physics after the advent of quantum mechanics that contradicted the existence of a law governing everything along with the super expansion and super contraction of the target universe, or namely traditional physics, represented the third stage. This three stage theory provided a real view of the current status of the world, allowing me to see the parallel relationship between my methods as an architect and the methods used since the emergence of quantum mechanics, which excited me quite a bit. I learned a lot about cutting edge quantum mechanics from the series of books written by Hiroshi Ooguri who is highly praised by Hiroshi Hara, a former teacher of mine.
The other book that I wrote called “Human Dwellings” that is being published by Shinchosha Publishing is the definitive edition of an autobiography that I have continued to write for quite a while. When three auxiliary lines are drawn on 1964, 1985 and 2020, my life and my methods came into view much more clearly that I imagined. From this perspective, the acquisition of an auxiliary line called 2020 was the reason I was able to write this book.
The HASEKO KUMA HALL has come into being in building number 11 at the School of Engineering of The University of Tokyo. A donation was received from Haseko Corporation for the complete renovation of the existing lecture hall and lounge, and we were in charge of the design.
Our objective was to create an active lecture hall that is open to both the campus and community by utilizing its location which is nearest to the main gate. A large display screen was provided in the lounge that is integral with the ceiling surface, and the lecture hall can be connected with the lounge, making the hall suitable for an “open university”. The term “wooden birdhouse” was used as the concept to integrate both the lecture hall and the lounge, and the results of cutting-edge research by the School of Engineering of The University of Tokyo are displayed in the “birdhouse” in the foyer, making this building a museum as well as a lecture hall, and achieving a moderate level of composite functions that are found in a learning commons.
The motif of a “wood box” was also used for the design of the café called “U-gohan” (Dinner) that faces the second floor of the lounge. This design facilitates interlocking with three-dimensional events, including events where people eat and drink to enhance communication. It is our sincere hope that the HASEKO KUMA HALL be used in the future as a facility to promote education and exchange related to architecture, and that many unexpected uses emerge.
The “U-gohan” café is operated by “YuuYuu”, a social welfare corporation from Tobetsu town in Hokkaido. I saw their farm when I visited Tobetsu recently, and was very impressed by the lively expressions of the people that work there as well as by the freshness of the produce. “U-gohan” café is open from 8:00 a.m. in the morning to 9:00 p.m. in the evening (10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays). In addition to serving delicious breakfasts and lunches, it also welcomes guests other than students and faculty, and has high-quality wine. We hope that you will drop by to try out the delicious ingredients from Hokkaido and experience the ambiance of the space created through the use of wood.
I came back to Tokyo late at night from Tobetsu that was in the middle of a snowstorm with the strong feeling that the HASEKO KUMA HALL will not only become a node for education and creativity, but will also help to enhance the welfare of the people who utilize the facility.
I am staying still in one place for what really seems to be the first time in my life. But that does not mean that I am just sitting at my desk. I am continuing to walk. I have realized that the act of walking creates a rhythm for my body and stimulates me, expanding the horizons of my thoughts. On the other hand, I am still connected with the world by means of frequent video conferences. I have talked extensively over the last few years about the importance of compact cities and walkable cities, but I did not think that I would have the opportunity to experience for myself this new way of living by using my body in this manner.
I have talked about the need for open architecture for a long time. The theme for the two books that I recently published (Human Dwellings [Shinchosha Publishing] and Point and Line to Plane [Iwanami Shoten, Publishers]) consisted of dismantling the closed in space of concrete structures and creating open and airy space. That is why the theme of openness has been close to my heart. The word environment was used to explain this, but I now feel that the word health is more appropriate. I have been taught about the happiness of walking and having the wind in my face, basking in the sun and feeling the earth
in this manner. The theme for the National Stadium and Takanawa Gateway Station which were recently completed was openness as well. The deep eaves, louvers and large membrane roof made this possible. I feel that the postponement of the Olympics for one year is sending a message that people should wake up to and perceive the “happiness of openness”. Once people wake up to this fact, it will be time to gather and celebrate. I think that this period of one year should be used to learn about this new type of happiness.
I talked with the cultural critic Hiroki Azuma for the first time in six years on the Niconico Live talk show. We were joined by the architect Ryuji Fujimura, and had a three-man talk about how we thought things would be after the Coronavirus pandemic subsides, using my book “Point and Line to Plane” as the starting point.
One interesting comment made by Hiroki Azuma consisted of him stating, “You say in your book ‘Point and Line to Plane’ that you want to dismantle things, but I think that in essence you are ‘An architect of lines’”. Hiroki Azuma thinks that the internet and computer are fundamentally lines which connect things with other things, and that is the essence of the age in which we live. Although the screen that you look at may appear to be a screen, it is in actuality a collection of lines that are connected behind the screen.
When this concept of lines is further expanded, I realized that the methods that we use to connect things and places with the lines called information is in essence the drawing lines around the world.
This can be considered to be the opposite of the methods used during the 20th century when the main objective was securing an adequate amount of volume in the world.
The other interesting thing pointed out by Hiroki Azuma as being a symbolic behavior in present times is the statements made by Trump on Twitter.
In spite of his privileged position as the President of the United States, Trump uses the flat communication platform called Twitter. The pavilion for KKAA may also be Twitter. At times, KKAA uses means that are smaller than a pavilion to disseminate information. We have explained that the methods that we have used up until now to proceed in parallel with small things and large things is similar to adopting the literary theory of Haruki Murakami and going back and forth between short stories and novels as the means necessary to increase creativity. However, in the realm of the style of hierarchy espoused by Hiroki Azuma, I get the feeling that this can be used to explain the adoption of flat methods of communication like SNS.
The Rolex Customer Center is located at the border between the grid shaped streets on the edge of the city center of Dallas and the surrounding zones. This glass tower has a stone wall podium in order to alleviate the elevation differential of the site and protect the building from the traffic in Dallas. The stone wall was built using the Ano masonry technique used to build the stone walls for castles in Japan by Ano-shu craftsmen who carry on this tradition with granite sourced in America.
The glass tower that was built on top has two types of grids which connect it to the ground in an intervening manner, and is twisted in a spiral shape that appears to disappear as it reaches for the sky. The tower is covered with horizontal louvers to protect it from the strong sunlight in Dallas, and the louvers were provided with a wood texture in order to make it feel warm and highlight the dynamic twists.
