Step by Step: “Time flows, and so should the architect”

Energy and sustainability, expanding design practices, Kengo Kuma, No Density, PLANE—SITE, Talk, Territory and mobility

Aesthetics, Architect’s role, Architecture’s challenge, Architecture&nature, Artificial nature, Craftman, Cultural agitator, Culture, Design process, Future generations, Global vs. Local, Japan, Local production, Local techniques, Nature, Raw materials, Space-time relationship, Sustainability, talk, Time Space Existence

PLANE—SITE travelled to the Tokyo offices of Kengo Kuma & Associates to discuss the topics of time, space, and existence as they relate to Kuma’s work. He discusses the role of humility in architecture, and his desire to bring architecture and nature closer together. He also discusses Japan’s so-called ‘lost decade’ after the 1991 financial crash, which necessitated his studio’s move from Tokyo to the Japanese countryside. During these years, Kuma worked on smaller scale projects, learning about materials from local craftspeople — “a most fruitful period”, as he recalls in the video. Many of these techniques and ideas influenced his later, bigger projects.