THE SIMPLE LIFE

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

- Coco Marett

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.”

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 2020 and where he incorporated 47 unique types of wood sourced from Japan’s 47 prefectures, as a symbol of unity.