What does the future of architecture look like? According to Kengo Kuma, it’s smaller-scale, sustainability-focused and about creating a lasting sense of joy rather than a fleeting moment of awe
Steel, concrete and inflated egos are ruining cities. At least that’s what Japanese architect Kengo Kuma believes. “Buildings need life. Concrete and steel buildings … we cannot feel life from them,” Kuma told Tatler when we visited his office in Tokyo’s affluent Aoyama district in October last year. His firm, Kengo Kuma & Associates, occupies multiple floors in a small commercial building, accessed by an old, rickety lift that holds five people at a time, at the most.
It’s a quaint setup for a visionary of Kuma’s calibre—he has completed more than 300 projects in 20 countries around the world, and was named the World’s Most Influential Architect by Time magazine in 2021—but his less-is-more approach is what has made him so prolific.
“Sometimes, design can destroy a place. In the 20th century, to build something monumental was the goal for many architects, to make their mark in history. These great designs can destroy the landscape and the environment,” says Kuma. “But now, the goal is to blend in—to become one with the environment. I think good, humble design is better than great design.”
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Kuma’s works serve as places where the past and present connect, and where visitors can experience Japan’s history through a contemporary lens. He’s known for his love of wood, which he uses in most of his projects, big or small—whether it’s a community library in Yusuhara, a small town in Japan’s southwest, or the 68,000 capacity Japan National Stadium where the Tokyo Olympics were hosted in 2021 and where he incorporated 47 unique types of wood sourced from Japan’s 47 prefectures, as a symbol of unity.
“Historically, Tokyo was a city of wooden buildings,” says Kuma. “This changed after the [Second Sino-Japanese War], but I hope to restore this tradition, and restore the sense of intimacy it created.” As well as offering an earthy respite from a sea of chrome skyscrapers, many of Kuma’s projects are connected to culturally significant landmarks, giving them a place in Japan’s modern landscape. Take the Meiji Jingu Museum, for example, which Kuma and his team completed in 2019.
Accessed via a discreet turnoff on the pathway to Tokyo’s famed Meiji Shrine, the museum was built using trees felled during its construction. “The space was challenging, as [the museum] is in a forest,” says the 68-year-old architect; the resulting construction completely surrenders to the ancient woodlands that surround the sacred shrine.
“I wanted to make the building as low as possible, and in such a way that it disappears into the forest.” And while the museum houses striking artefacts, including a carriage once used by Emperor Meiji dating back to the late 1800s, Kuma’s design has turned the surrounding landscape into an exhibit in its own right.
