Kengo Kuma: ‘When creative forces of cultures get mixed, a new wave comes about’

On the harmony between the forest and the stadium

On the main stage of the Kamal Theatre, Kumu San was greeted by co-founder of Wauhaus Oleg Shapiro. First, the Yokohama native, who opened the bureau in 1987, spoke about some of his projects. In his homeland alone, he has 342 facilities, including the National Stadium of Japan for the 2020 Olympic Games. When creating it, the architect was inspired by Japanese temples, which are distinguished by curved roofs made of wooden beams. The arena also includes a modern cooling system that reduces energy consumption on hot summer days. To reduce the visual impact of the facility, the height of the stadium was minimized by combining a flat roof and a compact arrangement of seats.

“The stadium is located in Tokyo in the middle of a forest, and I had to create harmony between the stadium and the forest,” the author explained, adding that this architecture allows the wind to freely walk between the structures.

Another example of the return of tradition was a pedestrian bridge in the city of Iwakuni. It was destroyed by a flood in July 2018 and rebuilt by Kengo Kuma's team.

“Such bridges have disappeared in Japan, so I wanted to bring back this tradition. It is very good to look inside yourself from this bridge,” Mr Kuma explained, after striking the audience's imagination with a hotel project in which he used straw and reeds.”

A hotel for the Great Wall of China was made in a similar way in the early 2000s.

“We preserved the topography of the place. We did not want to cut down the trees that grew there,” Kuma explained (author’s note: some trees were cut down during the construction of the Kamala Theatre).

From clay and aluminum

In China, a pottery museum UCCA Clay was built, opened last fall in the “city of ceramics” Yixing. “This is a pottery factory that we converted into a museum,” explained Kuma pointing out that clay was used in the construction, of course.

After the Eastern projects, the architect moved on to European ones, showing the conservatory in Aix-en-Provence (France). Its facade is covered with aluminium panels. The bizarre shape of the asymmetrical structures seems to be inspired by music.

“We were inspired by the geometry of Cezanne's art. For Cezanne, Mount Sainte-Victoire was very important, he often used it in his paintings. And we used the geometry of this mountain in our building. And the city produces aluminium, so we worked with it.”

In connection with the creation of the Kamala Museum, it was interesting to hear about the Scottish branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

“We discovered a magnificent rock near this place where we were supposed to build. And since this place is close to the sea, we wanted to create a new relationship between nature and the building. Just like the Kamala Theatre with your lake,” the architect noted.

Kengo Kuma also spoke about the Hans Christian Andersen Museum in Odense (Denmark):

“I didn’t want to make a monument, a memorial, I wanted to make a garden, buildings that look like a garden. And in geometry, we tried to create a new ‘softness’ that the urban community can perceive. The material is growing trees. People really like this place, they perceive it as a forest.

Shards and traditions

“We were inspired by the existing building,” Kengo Kuma began his story about the new Kamala Theatre. According to him, the team of architects wanted to show their respect for it: “You also see shards of ice from the lake. And traditional works of local craftsmen.”

“I really like the history of your country,” the master continued. “Because you are located between Asia and Europe, over the centuries, different cultures have mixed in your country so that they created a new population. And when the creative forces of cultures mix, a new wave appears. I wanted to retransmit this idea into the building. This is, of course, a modern design, but at the same time it is connected with history, with the tradition of this place,” he summed up.

“You build in a very large number of countries, these are often different cultures,” Shapiro commented. “We have said quite a lot that the new theatre building reflects history. These are sharp shapes, these are arrows, these are minarets. At the beginning of the competition, locals reproached us for being somewhat aggressive. Tell me, do we have an advantage when a person of another culture can discern those national features that the locals no longer notice?”

“Yes, absolutely,” Kuma agreed. “People from the outside can discover the true beauty of a building or place, this is indeed an advantage. Our view sometimes gets blurred, and we forget about the value of familiar places. I travel a lot and try to find the true beauty that lies behind the hustle and bustle of daily activity. By the way, in 2019, Kengo Kuma renovated the house of another famous Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada. The architect himself designs not only buildings. For example, he designed running shoes a few years ago.

“I worked with shoe industry specialists and designers, and learned about new materials, technological solutions, and the functions that these materials have. We exchanged experiences, and I was told a lot of interesting things. And such experiences change my mentality, my views. Architects need such exchanges. Without this, we will stagnate and the design will be boring.

“There is an opinion that you are the most ‘non-Japanese’ architect of all Japanese. What do you think about it?” Shapiro asked. “That's a very funny comment,” his colleague replied. “I was born in Japan, in an old building built before the war. There were tatami mats, partitions — this is a very traditional structure. I went to Catholic school, and my teachers were from Europe. I've learned a lot from them. For example, one of my professors travelled a lot around the world, to Africa and the Sahara, and studied rural life. I think the same thing is happening in Tatarstan.