{"id":196,"date":"2020-12-03T11:23:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T02:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/?post_type=webzine&p=196"},"modified":"2023-08-31T15:00:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T06:00:10","slug":"kengo-kuma-architecture","status":"publish","type":"webzine","link":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/webzine\/kengo-kuma-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Architecture Perspective by Kengo Kuma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The original article SLOW IS MORE is a part of the WORK MILL with Forbes JAPAN Issue 3 \u2014THE AGE OF POST-INNOVATIONALISM \u00a9<\/em>WORK MILL<\/em><\/a>, published on October 2, 2018<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Architecture is one of the fields Japan is best known for in the world. Many Japanese architects are celebrated worldwide, beginning with Kenzo Tange of the first post-war generation, Kisho Kurokawa, Fumihiko Maki, Arata Isozaki, and Hiroshi Hara of the second generation, Toyo Ito and Tadao Ando of the third generation, and now Kengo Kuma<\/a>, SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa), and Shigeru Ban of the fourth generation. At Kuma\u2019s architectural firm, almost 100 projects are currently underway. A third of them are in Japan while the rest are in Europe, North America, and Asia. Why are Japan\u2019s architects so highly recognized throughout the world? Here is Kuma\u2019s answer. \u201cThe presence of Japan\u2019s architects in the international community is strikingly prominent compared to that of the country itself. Up until the third generation, Japan had a strong economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We architects of the fourth generation live in a much weaker time after the bursting of Japan\u2019s economic bubble. I feel that the reason my generation is appreciated worldwide is because people are seeking a Japanesque softness, a sensitivity in architecture.\u201d According to Kuma, the elements required in architecture during the age of financial capitalism were simply size and eccentricity. To build excessively high skyscrapers with astonishing designs, for example. But as financial capitalism seemed to reach an impasse due to the global financial crisis of 2008, the demands toward architecture changed along with it. \u201cLow-rise buildings where you can feel the earth, buildings where you can perceive the locality, buildings where you can appreciate the contrast of light and shade, these are what people began to look for, which led them to notice Japan\u2019s aesthetics. Japanese modesty must also be a key factor. Rather than forcing the intense ego of the architect onto the architecture, we communicate with the locals to create buildings that spring from the locality. I believe this sense of beauty and style is what\u2019s being praised.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Applying Human Scale to Urban Design – Interview with Midori Aiura (PLP Architecture) on the “Future of Cities\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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The number of people dispersing to rural areas due to the Corona pandemic has been accelerating. In Japan, large corporations are also relocating their headquarters to suburbs. How will the state of our cities change in the future? WORK MILL editor-in-chief Yamada Yusuke spoke with Aiura Midori, a partner at PLP architecture (a British design […]<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tRead Article\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t