‘Furniture is often more important in our lives than architecture,’ says the celebrated Japanese architect, as he discusses his long-term collaboration with Japanese producer TIME & STYLE.

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Photographer: Masao Nishikawa

Nacrée is a French restaurant run by a Japanese chef who had worked for Astrance, a restaurant with Michelin’s 3-star rating in Paris. The feature of this space is flowers arranged in cylinders made of wooden bar and acryl. Our aim to cast the artistic flowers at center was to create obscure and gentle air in the space by using an unconventional element of architecture. (more…)

Mont-Blanc Base Camp by Kengo Kuma, photo: Kengo Kuma

The site looks up the peak of Mont-Blanc. In order for the architecture and its surrounding forests to dissolve in the environment the façade of the building is almost like the trees in the wood, as it consists of thick, unskinned panels of oak. The roof is also composed of the unskinned planks. (text by Kengo Kuma)

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‘Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud’ by Kengo Kuma for Casalgrande Padana

Acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma was asked by ceramic manufacturer Casalgrande Padana to create a monumental work to be installed in the road roundabout located at the main entrance of the company’s headquarters in Casalgrande, Italy.

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Asakusa Culture and Tourism Centre by Kengo Kuma and Associates; photo by Takeshi Yamagishi

Tokyo-based Kengo Kuma and Associates architectural practice have recently completed this multilayered culture and tourism centre located in Asakusa district, Taitō, Tokyo. Realised as a mixed-use venue intended to ‘accommodate plural programs such as tourist information centre, conference room, multi-purpose hall and an exhibition space,’ the building is composed of eight separate layers which not only divide the structure but also determine the role of each floor. (more…)

Green Cast by Kengo Kuma and Associates; photo by Daici Ano

Featuring a striking, rhythmic die-cast aluminium façade incorporating irregularly planted tufts of greenery, this five-storey building was completed last summer (2011) by the Tokyo-based practice Kengo Kuma and Associates. Aptly named ‘Green Cast’, the 1047-square-meters mixed-use building comprises a basement and ground-floor parking space, a clinic and a pharmacy, an office area, a vocational school as well as a two-bedroom rooftop residence. (more…)

Casalgrande Old House by Kengo Kuma and Associates; photo by Marco Introini

Following his large-scale porcelain ‘Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud’ installation, the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has recently realised this conversion of a typical, brick farmhouse into a light and airy exhibition space and an archive for the Italian ceramics manufacturer Casalgrande Padana. Completed in July 2011, the 470-square-meters building is located on company’s production site, in the countryside near the norther Italian city of Reggio Emilia. (more…)

Hoshakuji Station by Kengo Kuma & Associates

Kengo Kuma Associates realised this renovation of the Hoshakuji Station north of Tokyo. Parts of the station are made from re-used Oya stone which was left over from an old warehouse that existed in this area.

Hoshakuji Station by Kengo Kuma & Associates

Here is what Kengo Kuma himself has to say:

“The starting point was to open the east exit of Hoshakuji Station. We aimed at connecting the west and east sides of the station, which had been divided by the railroad. It eventually meant the link between the west and the east of the town of Takanezawa, and between the station and Chokkura Plaza & Shelters, which we designed in the east exit area. It is not a design of a station as a box, but is as an aperture. The aperture starts at its ‘neighbor’, Chokkura Plaza. We first decided to preserve the old warehouse of Oya stone that had existed in the area. Then we took advantage of pores in Oya stone, and used them in the new structural system, in which steel frame and Oya stone are combined diagonally, and added the system to the warehouse. Following the design of this ‘neighbor’, we extended this diagonal skin to the other ‘pore’ or ‘aperture’, which is the station. By such extension and connection, we attempted to link not only the station’s west exit and east exit, but also the station and its location.
In order to reduce the weight, we used lauan-made plywood for structure, instead of Oya stone. By using wood, I wanted to revive the humane and warm atmosphere once any station building used to have. The touch of this station building would be conveyed further to the landscape of paddy fields and wooden houses in the town of Takanezawa.
Our emphasis was that by creating ‘pores’, things could be pulled together and restore the community that had been long fragmented.”

Hoshakuji Station by Kengo Kuma & Associates

Hoshakuji Station by Kengo Kuma & Associates

Hoshakuji Station by Kengo Kuma & Associates

Hoshakuji Station by Kengo Kuma & Associates

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