Some works of Kengo Kuma from his career

1. Kengo Kuma
VIKRANT SANKE
14AR10027
I believe that the 21st century will be an
era of material – KENGO KUMA

2. About the Architect
• Kengo Kuma (born 1956) is a Japanese architect and professor in the
Department of Architecture (Graduate School of Engineering) at
the University of Tokyo.
• Is frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima.
• In 1990, he established his own firm "Kengo Kuma & Associates“.
• Employs over 150 architects in Tokyo and Paris, designing projects of
diverse type and scale throughout the world.
• His work, which reinterprets traditional elements of Japanese architecture
and showcases natural materials, was collected in Kengo Kuma: Complete
Works
• For nearly 30 years, Kengo Kuma has been a leading talent in
contemporary architecture.
• His projects highlight materials in their true form – water, glass, wood,
grass, bamboo, stone-earth-ceramic.

3. Architect’s Philosophy
• Kuma's stated goal is to recover the tradition of Japanese buildings and to reinterpret these
traditions for the 21st century.
• In 1997, he won the Architectural Institute of Japan Award and in 2009 was made an Officier
de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.
• Kuma lectures extensively and is the author of numerous books and articles discussing and
criticizing approaches in contemporary architecture.
• His seminal text Anti-Object: The Dissolution and Disintegration of Architecture written in
2008, calls for an architecture of relations, respecting its surroundings instead of dominating
them. Kuma's projects maintain a keen interest in the manipulation of light with nature
through materiality.
• Extending the mechanisms of composition to expand the possibilities of materiality.
“Transparency is a characteristic of Japanese architecture; I try to
use light and natural materials to get a new kind of transparency.”
–Kengo Kuma

4. The Birch Moss Chapel
• located in the mountain town of karuizawa, in
Japan's nagano prefecture,
• The chapel combines steel and glass for the roof
structure, as well as acrylic for the almost
invisible benches lined between the birch trunks.
• It is built to disappear within the surrounding
nature through a series of thin tree trunks used
to support its roof.
• The unimposing structure dissolves the border
between itself and the forest, as well as enhances
its presence, through the randomly placed birch
branches used to put it together
• to blend the chapel into the surrounding nature
even further, Kengo Kuma has spread moss on
the floors both within and outside of its
perimeter.

5. Renovated Camper's Barcelona Store
• This store incorporates a revolutionary
Catalan method of construction
• It uses vaulted ceramic plates as the form-
work of floor slabs.
• Kuma has chosen the concept of the vault,
which was also a great point of reference
for Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi
throughout his works, as the main visual
feature of the Barcelona camper store.
• The ceramic vault has been used here as
the basic unit of the furniture, from
shelves, to benches, and counters for the
shoes, resulting in a warm and friendly
atmosphere which reflects the culture of
Catalonia.

6. V&A Dundee museum, Scotland
• The geometric design is inspired by Scotland’s dramatic
cliffs
• The building is formed of two angular volumes.
• These are clad in 2,500 horizontal concrete panels,
which connect on the first floor to form a single
building.
• The facade of the museum is designed to resemble a
craggy rock face.
• The museum's final shape is a twisting double volume
that joins at the topmost level to create a building that
appears to have an eroded cave passage leading the
Tay to the city.
• "The museum is not only for art, the museum should
draw people together and activate the communication
between the people.“ – Kengo Kuma
• At the heart of the museum, the Scottish design

7. • Visitors enter the museum through a double-
height main hall with a cafe and ample seating.
• Benches line the long sweeping staircase that
leads to the first floor gallery spaces, and a
book-shelf lined seating area where visitors
can sit and read.
• The museum’s light-filled wooden interior and
impressive spaces inside have been designed
to provide a warm welcome to visitors,
• Irregular oak-veneered panels line the sloping
interior walls.
• The light wood is in contrast to the dark
Carlow Irish Blue limestone, littered with fossils,
that clads the hall floor and staircase.
• Pearly chips of mussel shell were mixed in with
the white concrete used for surfaces around
the museum.
• The museum extends over the River Tay with a
pointed corner that protrudes like the bow of a
boat. This prow-shaped space contains the
museum's large entrance space, cafe and shop,
with timber walls the reference the building's
concrete exterior cladding.

9. The Misono Branch Of The Hekikai Shinkin Bank
• The façade is the most important part of the
project.‘ –Kengo Kuma
• This seven-story Japanese bank has been encased
a in a wooden cladding to highlight the structure
within its industrial landscape.
• Planks are diagonally attached, in contrast to the
rigid lines that make up the structure’s exterior
glass panelling. their nature is complimented by
tall trees planted at the base of the building.
• The way natural daylight interacts with spaces is
often a highlighting factor in his work.
• By covering glass building in a structure of narrow
slats, the façade creates effects similar to a
Japanese forest.
• light interacts with the interlaced cladding to
create the impression of sunbeams peering into
the interior

10. Asakusa Culture Tourist Information
Center
• The Asakusa culture tourist information center’ in
tokyo is situated on a corner lot of 326 square
meters across from kaminari-mon gate.
• The multilevel structure includes a conference
room, multi-purpose hall and exhibition space.
• Each of the floors from the exterior is defined by
varying roofs which extend from the center of the
building, as if multiple volumes – 8 one-storied
houses – have been piled on top of one another.
• The diagonally shaped spaces born between the
ceiling and the ground of the level above, act as
storage space for various equipment, and also
secures large air volume despite its overall height
for high and medium-rise buildings. these not
only divide the establishment, but determine the
various programs housed within.

11. • The first and second floor has an atrium and in-door
stairs, creating a sequence from which you can feel
the sloping of the two storeys.
• A terraced plane allows the entire room to function
as a theater.
• As the angles of the roofs incline and vary between
the stacked volumes, they all relate differently to the
outside, giving a unique character to each space.

12. Observatory For Mt. Fuji
• The structure is built in the shape of an
octagon, formed from the cardinal
directions,
• The project incorporates an observatory,
an observation corridor, an exhibition
space, a café and a watchtower.
• This structure offers visitors a series of
framed views of the Fuji mountain, as
well as the experience of walking above
ground on the observation corridor.
• The building is characterized by floor-to-
ceiling windows, combined with local
shizuoka cedar, that adds a sense of
complexity, similar to dense branches.

13. Shipyard Renovation
• In the Lujiazui financial district in
Pudong, Shanghai, Kengo Kuma has
reimagined a 1972 shipyard into a new 9,000-
square-meter multi-use complex
with theatre, retail outlets, named Shipyard
1862.
• Behind original, rugged brick walls, the old
shipyard was once defined by a 12 by 30-meter
grid, which allowed for massive interior spaces
to hold ships.
• 200m long column-less sheds were present.
• In this industrial-style adaptive reuse project,
building’s structural and material integrity has
been preserved

14. • Original brickwork was restored on the North façade
facing the river, but the South facade was demolished
years ago.
• For the West facade, Kuma designed a pixelated gradient
brick system which connects the North and South by
reflecting the unique restored weathered brick and
remembering what no longer exists in a contemporary
way.
• Suspended by 8-millimeter-thick stainless steel cables,
large clay bricks, in four shades of red, gradually fade in
toward the transparent South facade.
• Internally, the theater is situated at the eastern end of
the building, close to the river. during performances, a
curtain at the rear of the stage can be removed, offering
views of the river through a large glass window.
• 30m tall void runs throughout the entire structure and
showcases its massiveness.

15. Odunpazari Modern Art
Museum,Turkey
• The museum aims to promote Turkish art to the young audience and
locals, where the privately-owned space will exhibit the client’s collection
of Turkish modern art.
• The design is interpreted from the context’s local architecture;
• The traditional ottoman houses made from wood all feature a
cantilevered volume at the upper level and follows the meandering
streets to form the characteristic scene the town is recognized for.

16. • The building is made up of stacked and interlocked boxes at various sizes.
• This creates a diverse scale of exhibition spaces inside and outside, the museum merges with
urbanscape and becomes a new cultural landmark.
• The stacked nature of the volumes appear to increase in height towards the heart of the
building.
• On the ground level, space for large scale art works and installation is present.
• The boxes get smaller upstairs to exhibit more smaller, intimate scale works of art.
• The central atrium, composed with timber blocks ,provides the circulation to each level and
invites the natural light from the large skylight above.

17. FA-BO, Japan
• Rising at three storeys, the building called ‘fa-bo’ serves
as workspace, exhibition and research facility for
Japanese fabric manufacturer KOMATSU SEIREN in
Nomi city, Japan,
• This renovated office building is recognized as the
world’s first earthquake resistant building strengthened
by carbon fiber.
• During the early design stages, kuma approached the
scheme by developing a hybrid, carbon fiber material
called ‘Kotmatsu Seiren’s Cf Rod’.

18. • Drawing influence from the local technique of rope
braiding, the fiber rod created combines together
old and new technologies to create a knitted, light,
rope-like rod that embodies strong and flexible
properties.
• These carbon fiber rods gently wrap around the
building almost like a transparent cloak.
• Using computer technology, the positioning of
each of these rods were fully calculated in prior to
its fabrication to respond to the horizontal seismic
force and motion from north to south, and east to
west.
• The rods created simultaneously act as seismic
support and in turn, could open up possibilities for
further earthquake reinforcement strategies in
architecture.
• Overall, Kuma has turned a seemingly ordinary
office block into an elegant building related to its
program; visually and functionally.

19. Xinjin Zhi Museum
• Located at the entrance to a holy Taoist
site, the Xinjin Zhi Museum accommodates
religious exhibitions within a continuous
gallery that spirals up through three floors.
• The building's staggered frame
is constructed from concrete and angles in
different directions to create a series of
pointed edges and cantilevers.
• The building itself shows the essence of
Taoism through its space and exhibitions.
• Pools of water surround the museum,
some of which are contained behind the
tiled screens.
• The façade for the south is divided into
top and bottom and staggered in different
angles. This idea is to respond to two
different levels of the pond in front and
the street at the back, and avoid direct
confrontation with the massive building in

20. • The tile used for façade is made of local material and
worked on in a traditional method of this region, to
pay tribute to Taoism
• The tiles emphasize on nature and balance.
• Tile is hung and floated in the air by wire to be
released from its weight (and gain lightness).
• The traditional local tiles are in fact stretched tautly
around the building on wire strings, shading the
glazed exterior from direct sunlight.
• For the east side, a large single tile screen is vertically
twisted to correspond with the dynamism of the road
in front.
• The façade for the north side is static and flat, which
faces the pedestrians’ square.
• Thus the tile screen transforms itself from face to face,
and wraps up the building like a single
cloth.

21. GC Prostho Museum Research Center
• The architecture originates from the system of Cidori, an old
Japanese toy.
• Cidori is an assembly of wood sticks with joints having
unique shape, which can be extended merely by twisting
the sticks, without any nails or metal fittings.

22. • Parts are 60mm×60mm×200cm or 60mm×60mm×400cm, and form
a grid of 50cm square. This cubic grid also becomes the grid on its
own for the showcase in the museum.
• Jun Sato, structural engineer for the project, conducted a
compressive and flexure test to check the strength of this system,
and verified that even the device of a toy could be adapted to ‘big’
buildings.
• This architecture shows the possibility of creating a universe by
combining small units like toys with your own hands.
• Kuma worked on the project in the hope that the era of machine-
made architectures would be over, and human beings would build
them again by themselves.

23. Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum
• This is a plan to link two public buildings
with a bridge-typed facility, which had
been long separated by the road in
between.
• The museum technically bridges
communications in this area.
• It functions not only as a passage between
the two facilities but also as an
accommodation and workshop,
• It is an ideal location for artist-in-residence
programs.
• The structural system was challenging
which composed of small parts, referring
to cantilever structure often employed in
traditional architecture in Japan and China.
• It is a great example of sustainable design,
as a big cantilever is achieved even
without large-sized materials.

24. YURURI Yusuhara Town Library
• This project is a Community Library And Welfare
Center in Yusuhara Town, Takaoka County, Kochi,
Japan
• The building houses a library and welfare facilities
using mainly cedar, which was sourced from the
town.
• The architect combined steel and wood material in
a new structural composition which were hanged
from the ceiling of the space.

25. • The undulating ground rather than a large flat floor,
and the raised ground can be used as a stage for
events such as lectures or concerts.
• In the library, visitors takes their shoes off feeling
the warmth of the cedar floor, and reading books
anywhere in the space.
• The structural wooden pattern is perceived from
the facade as a strong architectural element and
distinguished language that is given to the
building.
• Kuma says that he assembled the structure mixing
steel and cedar, expressing a forest with sunlight
filtering through the leaves.

26. Shipping Container
Starbucks Store
• This two story structure is located
in Taiwan and will function as a
drive-thru in a soon to be opened
shopping mall.
• Built from 29 used shipping
containers
• the 29 containers create a
geometric space, inside which
create warm and comfortable
seating areas for customers.

27. • From one end of the container,
customers can enjoy views of the
beautiful mountain range. On the
other end graphic installations with
coffee stories and a brightly colored
wall mural is present.
• The stacking of the shipping
containers creates a tall space that
provides natural sunlight through the
various skylights found throughout
the structure.

28. Misono-za theatre
• An existing theater in Nagoya, Japan
has been revived with bold red color
and black square tiles, creating a
special motif that could match the
"flower" of the city.
• Nagoya has long cultivated
performance art and artists and is
known as the place of entertainment
within Japan
• Misono-za, the existing theater is
located in the center of Nagoya’s
theater district,
• The building is a new and unusual
complex in that it integrates a
shopping center facing a main road, as
well apartments above the theater.
• The former theatre had walls of black
square tiles with raised white grout,
and that was used this as the motif of
designing a glamorously illuminated

29. • A wide corridor stretching from the foyer to the
main entrance is covered with vermillion helping
to enhance this bright and beautiful theater that
represents Nagoya.
• In the interiors, the studio looked back to the
old Misono-za by using vermillion as the basic
color.
• A wide corridor stretching from the foyer to the
main entrance was covered with vermillion
helping to enhance this bright and beautiful
theater that represents Nagoya.

30. Sunny hills cake shop
• The cake brand SunnyHills wanted a shop
design that mirrors the careful preparation of
the company's trademark pineapple cakes
• Over 5000 metres of wooden strips were used
to construct the precise 3D grid that wraps
around around the outer walls and ceiling of
the three-storey building.
• Some pieces were cut shorter than others,
revealing multiple layers and reducing the
overall linearity.
• “Our aim was to create a forest in the busy city
centre," said Kengo Kuma. "We studied how
lighting states would change in a day in the
woods, and came up with a shape like a
basket.“

31. • The narrow slats are arranged at angles of 30 and 60
degrees, creating hundreds of diamond-shaped
hollows, and were assembled by local Japanese
craftsman
• “I consider that wood joints without glues or nails are
the essence of Japanese architecture," added
Kuma. "What is characteristic about SunnyHills is the
angle of the lattice; unlike the conventional 90
degrees, we tried 30 degrees and 60 degrees to
combine the pieces.”
• "By designing with these varied angles, we were able
to achieve a shape and a frame that evokes a forest,"
he added.
• An opening at one corner leads visitor into the shop,
which occupies the two lower floors of the building.
An assortment of differently sized staircase treads
form a route between the two floors and are flanked
by sprouting foliage.
• Cork tiles provide flooring on the first floor, where
the architects have also added a kitchen. The cork
surface continues up to the level above, which houses

33. Yusuhara Marche
• Yusuhara Machino-eki is a complex of a
market selling local products and a small hotel
with 15 rooms.
• Thatch has been used extensively here as a
traditional value of Yusuhara.
• Glass fittings are used for the lower part of the
building, including the market’s entrance
facing the front road, which can be open at
any hour of the day,
• Piles of the straw unit on top of glass in the
module of 2,000×980mm, an unprecedented
form for a curtain wall.
• Normally in a thatched roofing, thatch is fixed
vertically against the foundation, in which its
cut ends face towards outside. In this building,
However, the bunch of thatch is bound
horizontally to the foundation, with which the
cut end won’t be exposed to rainfalls, and will
last long.

34. • Pivots are set on the steel
mullion at the both ends of
each thatch unit, so that it
can rotate and take in fresh
air from outside, which will
the maintenance of the
thatch easier.
• For the interior, logs of
cedar tree with some
remained astringent skin are
used.
• The remain of the astringent
was controlled by the pitch
of the bark peeler, so that
some nuance was added to
their texture.
• Using rough-textured
materials, such as thatch and
log, a new characteristics of
Yusuhara was formed.

35. “Materiality transcends beyond the visual experience, as it requires all
five senses of the human body to engage it, to remember it.”
- Kengo Kuma
THANK YOU
