Kengo Kuma

Kengo Kuma at the Strelka Institute

Kengo Kuma (隈 研吾, Kuma Kengo, born 1954) is a Japanese architect and professor in the Department of Architecture (Graduate School of Engineering) at the University of Tokyo. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolific writings. He is the designer of the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo which has been built for 2020 Summer Olympics.

Quotes

1954

Anti-Object: The Dissolution and Disintegration of Architecture

• “Objects freeze and fix spaces that are otherwise indeterminate and ambiguous, they compress information – and that is why people continue to construct them."
• "All ideas come from sensation or reflection. Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas. How comes it to be furnished?"
• "Instead of stepping forward, designers need to remain completely open to visitors’ needs. Only then will we have a space without boundaries and paths. The space may consist only of an unprocessed cluster of particles – scattered rubble and grass – none the less, countless places will emerge and a network of relationships will develop the moment someone steps foot inside."
• "The simplest form of compression is proportional compression. A map reduces space by this means, premised on a bird’s-eye view. For the subject, space is reduced to a two-dimensional pattern."
• "...it is often asserted that, though music and literature are sequential, there is no sequence in architecture. With a work of architecture, one is free to look at the exterior from any direction and at any time one chooses."