May 6, 2013
For Milan Design Week 2013, Kengo Kuma brought his traditional Japanese aesthetic of transparency and lightness from the natural environment to the city center. In “Naturescape for Urban Stories,” Kuma envisions a natural space set within the bustle of the crowded urban area of Milan. Suspended between sculptural environment and architecture, Kuma’s installation reinterprets the traditional Japanese garden as a series of sinuous, organic garden spaces comprised of pietra serena stone, bamboo, water and gravel. Around each garden, the terrain delicate steps upward, forming bulbous elevations that determine the borders of reflecting pools and paths of movement.
Known for his use of light and natural materials and strong connection to the landscape, Kuma infuses the installation with a sense that these “urban stories” could be placed in any large city. The delicacy of materials and feeling of serenity achieved through the gardens helps a dense city area reclaim the natural environment taken away by development. Click through to see more!
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April 11, 2013
Project: Glass/Wood House
Architect: Kengo Kuma and Associates
Location: New Canaan, Connecticut
In the 1950s, the small town of New Canaan became a sort of laboratory for architects to construct their novel modernist homes. Situated in a forest not far from Philip Johnson’s famed Glass House is Joe Black Leigh’s gorgeous glass and wood residence, which has been in dire need of renovation for decades. Kengo Kuma was commissioned to repair this home, as well as build a brand new wing that would evoke the same grandeur as the original structure. Kuma drew inspiration from the classic L-shaped plan, a prototype of Japanese architecture, and built a glass wing connected to the older home by a transparent hallway. Through isolating the two sections from each other, Kuma has preserved the house’s integrity and harmony with nature while creating a new space that is equally as awe-inspiring.
Read more about this project in the Architizer database.
Photos: Scott Frances
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January 31, 2013
All photos via Kengo Kuma, unless otherwise noted
Kengo Kuma has constructed a modernized version of Buddhist monk Kamono Chomei’s portable hut that he immortalized centuries ago in the influential essay ”Hojo-ki” (“An Account of My Hut”). ”Hojo-an After 800 Years,” on display at Kyoto’s Shimogamo Jinja Shrine, is a tribute to Chomei’s efficient home, often regarded as a prototype for Japan’s compact housing. Reflecting the mobility of the original structure, Kuma’s hut is constructed of ETFE sheets that can easily be rolled up. Working in combination with a cedar structure and powerful magnets, the soft architecture becomes a single, more structured unit. Click through to see more pictures of Hojo-an.
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January 28, 2013
Project: Memu Meadows Experimental House
Architect: Kengo Kuma and Associates
Location: Hokkaidō, Japan
Function: The architecture of this experimental cabin in Japan was influenced by the traditional “Chise” style of the Ainu people, whose homes typically were built out of bamboo grass in order to insulate the heat from a central fireplace during cold winter months. Kuma’s house replicates this model, upgrading the insulation system with an efficient, light wall system—recycled plastic bottles sandwiched in between two thin membranes—that locks in heat and refracts light from the central fire. There is no artificial light, Kuma says, because the intent of the home is to synchronize the lives of its residents with the earth’s natural cycle of light and dark. Read more about this project in the Architizer database.
Photos © Kengo Kuma
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October 19, 2012
This week’s news about a conceptual design for an inflatable trampoline bridge in Paris had us buzzing with ideas for pneumatic high lines, tubular skyscrapers, and moon bounce roadways, where the chief means of locomotion would be, of course, somersaulting. While we didn’t get any of this into Rhino, architects are clearly already on the case. Snarkitecture recently unveiled their plans for inflatable “drift” pavilion for Design Miami. Raumlabor’s “Spacebuster” was exhumed from the studio archives and toured around Detroit last month. And Diller Scofidio + Renfro‘s “Bubble” expansion for the Hirshhorn Museum is set to blow up next year, making playful sport of Gordon Bunshaft’s Brutalist bunker in the process. There’s plenty more example, but you’ll have to click through to see them all.
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September 25, 2012
We’ve just returned from Finland, the undisputed sauna capital of the world. Everyone there loves saunas and thinks it’s strange if you don’t. Although there is no written record of how long the tradition of taking a sweat-bath with family and friends dates back in history, it is without a doubt the favorite social activity of the Fins. Up until some point it was common for women to give birth in saunas, at lower room temperatures of course, since it was the most hygienic place in the house.
Most modern family homes have a room in the basement dedicated to warming up and relaxing during the long and cold Nordic winter. Even small apartments pose no limitation for people to find space in their bathroom to accommodate a mini-sauna.
And you can choose between different types: the Finnish Sauna for example involves a wood-fired stove (newer versions use an electric heater), the Smoke Sauna, which takes several hours to heat up, or the latest invention of the Fins, a Gondola Sauna. Just across the Baltic Sea in Estonia, the third European Sauna Marathon was held in February this year.
Not only the Fins love their sauna! See our slideshow for the best and quirkiest saunas and bath houses around the world.
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July 2, 2012
“Green Cast” by Kengo Kuma & Associates; All photos: Daici Ano
Kengo Kuma commands a pioneering role in contemporary Japanese architectural practice, with a diverse portfolio of work ranging from small pavilions and shops (see Kuma’s bespoke Starbucks cafe in Fukuoka) to large urban-scale projects (the ongoing V&A museum in Dundee). Kuma, who has built outside his native Japan in China and the US, consistently bases his designs in a local context, unraveling the crafts or industrial heritage of a particular region to find totems or motifs which he then proceeds to reinterpret in his patently, though far from “signature”, modern aesthetic. The architect achieves this in many ways, though namely by establishing a modular component that may be accreted or stacked in a sculptural form or, as in the case with the “Green Cast” complex, configured to create a permeable facade.
Located in Odawara-shi, Kanagawa Pref. in Japan, the compact mixed-use block features an innovative facade comprised of aluminum die-cast panels arranged in an irregular grid in which planters are inserted. The patchwork of panels, slanted and cast with the texture of styrene foam, conceal the itinerant equipment needed to water the seemingly parasitic flora. Continue.
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June 27, 2012
Like their western cousins IKEA, much-loved Japanese home furnishings store MUJI is expanding into prefab home design.
Back in 2009, the store commissioned the venerable Kengo Kuma to design two prefabricated homes, which could be customized, purchased, and assembled on site. Kuma’s elegant (and earthquake-proof) designs were made from an affordable industrialized kit-of-parts, meaning they had the potential to be marketed towards a larger audience.
It seems that MUJI has plans to do just that. Spoon & Tamago reports that the brand is holding a contest that offers one lucky winner the chance to live in Kuma’s Tree House (fully furnished with MUJI products) for two years – rent free. Read on.
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March 13, 2012
The earthquake that devastated Japan one year ago began a new chapter in the island nation’s history, ripping through its coastal cities and villages and momentarily stripping the entire country of its long-cultivated hard shell of contented self-sufficiency. Since then, Japan’s gift for design has spiked with full force, as its resident architects and designers did not hesitate to take action and pair up with relief organizations to unearth a new stage of Japanese modernity from the vast wreckage. From Shigeru Ban’s refined shipping container housing complexes to Koji Kakiuchi’s minimalist gabled frames set atop of the exposed foundations of razed homes, the architecture of the aftermath has been a steady source of inspiration for all. Now, Kengo Kuma joins the list of innovators with plans for a new meeting center in Rikuzentakata. Continue.
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February 24, 2012
All photos: Kengo Kuma and Associates
The ubiquity of the Starbucks brand has yielded an unsurprising aesthetic monotony among their ever-expanding empire of coffee shops. The anatomy of nearly every Starbucks store can be reduced to the same basic elements, from the mood lighting and tacky factory art to the Michael Buble (or Jacques Brel, vintage post-war Franco ephemera are always a sure bet) records blaring over the tinny speaker system. While the level of customization of drink orders is relatively broad, the custom Starbucks shop is essentially an anomaly. In the case of Kengo Kuma‘s new Starbucks cafe in Fukuoka, Japan, that is a good thing. The new store is both ornate and minimal, traditional and modern, continuing the architect’s exploration in the crafts and carpentry heritage of his native land. Continue.
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