Kengo Kuma

KENGO KUMA

BIOGRAPHY Born in Yokohama in the Kanagawa prefecture, Kengo Kuma (1954) is considered one of the most significant contemporary Japanese architects.

AWARDS • 2008 LEAF Award (commercial category) • 2009 Decoration Officier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) • 2010 Mainichi Art Award for “Nezu Museum” • 2011 The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize for "Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum" • 2012 The Restaurant & Bar Design Awards, Restaurant Interior (Stand alone) for Sake No Hana (London) • 2016 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture

PROJECTS

JAPAN NATIONAL STADIUM The Japan National Stadium  formerly known as New National Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium used mostly for association football in Kasumigaoka, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The project is located in Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu Gaien district and took almost exactly three years to build under the supervision of national construction giant Taisei Corporation.

DESIGN The design team sourced over 70,000 cubic feet of larch and cedarwood from all of Japan’s 47 prefectures, and while it was a smart sustainability move, the gesture also drew criticism over allegations of endangered tropical timber being used.

ASAKUSA CULTURE AND TOURISM CENTER

In the corner premise of just 326 ㎡ across Kaminari-mon Gate, the building was required to accommodate plural programs such as tourist information center, conference room, multipurpose hall and an exhibition space.

DESIGN The center extends Asakusa’s lively neighborhood vertically and piles up roofs that wrap different activities underneath, creating a “new section” which had not existed in conventional layered architecture. Equipments are stored in the diagonally shaped spaces born between the roof and the floor, and by this treatment we could secure large air volume despite its just average height for high-and medium-rise buildings.

V&A DUNDEE Located along the waterfront in the city of Dundee in the northern part of Scotland, this museum is a branch of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In addition to exhibits of artwork in the V&A collection, contemporary Scottish art and product design from the area are on display, making it a facility that is expected to become a new cultural centre in Scotland

DESIGN The facade has a variety of shadows and changes created with multiple horizontal layers of precast concrete as a way to express the beautiful cliffs of Scotland with architecture. A large horizontal “hole” was provided in the centre of the building. This “hole” represents an attempt to connect Union Street which runs through the centre of Dundee with the beautiful natural scenery of the River Tay.

LINKS https://www.floornature.com/kengo-kuma-103/ https://www.archdaily.com/901892/v-and-a-dundee-kengo-kuma-and-associates/5b9829e3f197cceb760000d4-v-and-a-du ndee-kengo-kuma-and-associates-external-wall-c-kkaa https://www.archdaily.com/251370/asakusa-culture-and-tourism-center-kengo-kuma-associates/5018b70a28ba0d5d5d000 5a6-asakusa-culture-and-tourism-center-kengo-kuma-associates-photo https://www.archpaper.com/2019/11/tokyo-completes-kengo-kuma-national-stadium/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_National_Stadium

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