Kengo Kuma

Kengo Kuma

Architect

photo: Designhouse

Profile

Kengo Kuma was born in 1954. He established Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990. He is currently a University Professor and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo after teaching at Keio University and the University of Tokyo. KKAA projects are currently underway in more than 50 countries. Kengo Kuma proposes architecture that opens up new relationships between nature, technology, and human beings. His major publications include Kengo Kuma Onomatopoeia Architecture, Grounding Performance (X-Knowledge), Nihon no Kenchiku (Architecture of Japan, Iwanami Shoten), Zen Shigoto (Kengo Kuma – the complete works, Daiwa Shobo), Ten Sen Men (Point Line Plane, Iwanami Shoten), Makeru Kenchiku (Architecture of Defeat, Iwanami Shoten), Shizen na Kenchiku (Natural Architecture, Iwanami Shinsho), Chii-sana Kenchiku (Small Architecture, Iwanami Shinsho) and many others.

Thoughts on Design

After writing the book “Architecture of Japan,” I began to think about what Japan is. And now I am starting to think about breathing design. Passive design, which is defeated by the environment and the given conditions, is always fixed in a way that it is actually “defeated”. Is it possible to create a design that responds to the environment in a flexible manner, like breathing? The most important question is the degree of flexibility.

Representative work

  • 2006 | Chokura Plaza

  • 2002 | Great(Bamboo)Wall

  • Nezu Museum of Art

  • 2000 | Bato Hiroshige Art Museum

  • 2024 | Saint-Denis Pleyel Emblematic Train Station

  • 2007 | Suntory Museum of Art

  • Granada Performing Arts Center

  • 2007 | Besançon Cultural Arts Center | Photo: Stefan Girard

  • 2000 | Stone Museum

  • Marseille Center for Contemporary Art

  • Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum

  • V&A at Dundee

Interview (Japanese)

From the exhibition “Secret Source of Inspiration: Designers’ Hidden Sketches and Mockups