Author(s): Philip Jodidio (Editor); Kengo Kuma (Artist)

JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE | ARCHITECTURE MONOGRAPHS | TASCHEN

After Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, and Fumihiko Maki, Kengo Kuma has breathed renewed vigor and lightness into Japanese architecture. Departing from the modernist skyscraper of the 20th century, Kuma traveled through his native Japan to develop a truly sustainable approach, translating local craftsmanship and resources into site-specific timely buildings. Informed by tradition and with both feet firmly planted in the present, the "materialist" heralds a new tactile architecture marked by its engaging surfaces, innovative structures, and fluid forms, reconnecting people with the physicality of a house. Kuma's objective, above all else, is "just to respect the culture and environment of the place where I am working."To this end, Kuma shaped the China Academy of Art's Folk Art Museum from discarded roof tiles, which rise and fall along with the natural terrain; created a chapel out of birch and moss inNagano, Japan; and more recently worked with local craftsmen to sculpt the V&A Dundee into a twisted, layered reflection of the Scottish coastal cliffs. With an extraordinary sensitivity for space, light, and texture, Kuma reveals unexpected qualities in matter, finding the weightlessness of stone in Chokkura Plaza and the softness of aluminum in the thatched roof of the Yangcheng Lake Tourist Transportation Center.Now, the architect is bringing his philosophy of architecture in harmony with its environment to a project of unprecedented scale and importance: Japan's National Stadium for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, now near completion. Kuma has said the stadium could be "the catalyst that will transform Tokyo back from a concrete city. I want it to set an example that will help alter the direction of Japanese architectural design."In this XXL-sized monograph jam-packed with some 500 illustrations spanning photographs, sketches, and plans, Kuma guides us through his entire career to date, detailing milestone projects as well as ongoing works.Soon available in a Collector's Edition limited to 200 copies, each signed by Kengo Kuma