Kengo Kuma: My Life as an Architect in Tokyo (My Life as an Architect)

Kengo Kuma: My Life as an Architect in Tokyo (My Life as an Architect) PDF Author: Kengo Kuma
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0500776644
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
A personal tour of Tokyo’s architecture, as seen through the eyes of one of the world’s most acclaimed architects who is also designing the primary venue for the Tokyo Olympic games. Tokyo is Japan’s cultural and commercial epicenter, bursting with vibrancy and life. Its buildings, both historical and contemporary, are a direct reflection of its history and its people. Kengo Kuma was only ten years old when he found himself so inspired by Tokyo’s cityscape that he decided to become an architect. Here he tells the story of his career through twenty-five inspirational buildings in the city. Kuma’s passion is evident on every page, as well as his curiosity about construction methods and his wealth of knowledge about buildings around the world, making this a unique commentary on Tokyo’s dynamic architecture. Kengo Kuma: My Life as an Architect is an intimate and truly inspiring book, revealing the beauty that exists in the world’s everyday spaces.

Kengo Kuma: My Life as an Architect in Tokyo (My Life as an Architect)

Kengo Kuma: My Life as an Architect in Tokyo (My Life as an Architect) PDF Author: Kengo Kuma
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0500776644
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 122

Get Book Here

Book Description
A personal tour of Tokyo’s architecture, as seen through the eyes of one of the world’s most acclaimed architects who is also designing the primary venue for the Tokyo Olympic games. Tokyo is Japan’s cultural and commercial epicenter, bursting with vibrancy and life. Its buildings, both historical and contemporary, are a direct reflection of its history and its people. Kengo Kuma was only ten years old when he found himself so inspired by Tokyo’s cityscape that he decided to become an architect. Here he tells the story of his career through twenty-five inspirational buildings in the city. Kuma’s passion is evident on every page, as well as his curiosity about construction methods and his wealth of knowledge about buildings around the world, making this a unique commentary on Tokyo’s dynamic architecture. Kengo Kuma: My Life as an Architect is an intimate and truly inspiring book, revealing the beauty that exists in the world’s everyday spaces.

Architecture of Defeat

Architecture of Defeat PDF Author: Kengo Kuma
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429751206
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Kengo Kuma, one of Japan’s leading architects, has been combining professional practice and academia for most of his career. In addition to creating many internationally recognized buildings all over the world, he has written extensively about the history and theory of architecture. Like his built work, his writings also reflect his profound personal philosophy. Architecture of Defeat is no exception. Now available in English for the first time, the book explores events and architectural trends in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in both Japan and beyond. It brings together a collection of essays which Kuma wrote after disasters such as the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City on 9/11 and the earthquake and tsunami that obliterated much of the built landscape on Japan’s northern shore in a matter of minutes in 2011. Asking if we have been building in a manner that is too self-confident or arrogant, he examines architecture’s intrinsic—and often problematic—relationship to the powerful forces of contemporary politics, economics, consumerism, and technology, as well as its vital ties to society. Despite the title, Architecture of Defeat is an optimistic and hopeful book. Rather than anticipating the demise of architecture, Kuma envisages a different mode of conceiving architecture: guided and shaped by more modesty and with greater respect for the forces of our natural world. Beautifully designed and illustrated, this is a fascinating insight into the thinking of one of the world’s most influential architects.

Kengo Kuma

Kengo Kuma PDF Author: Botond Bognar
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
ISBN: 9781568984599
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Bognar describes in detail the work of Kengo Kuma whose designs have been attracting growing international attention. Kuma's work is characterized by simplicity and sensitivity to ecological issues taking account of the site and the materials used.

Kengo Kuma

Kengo Kuma PDF Author: Kengo Kuma & Associates
Publisher: Artmedia (Acc)
ISBN: 9781864708455
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Kengo Kuma is a globally acclaimed Japanese architect whose prodigious output possesses an inherent respect and value of materials and environment, often creating a harmonious balance between building and landscape. He masterfully engages both architectural experimentation and traditional Japanese design with twenty-first-century technology, resulting in highly advanced yet beautifully simple, gentle, human-scaled buildings. Often ranked among other esteemed architects, such as Shigeru Ban, Tadao Ando, Kazuyo Sejima, or Kenzo Tange, Kuma is always in search of new materials to replace concrete and steel, and seeks a new approach for architecture in a post-industrial society, fusing interior and exterior realms to make spaces that create a calming and tranquil atmosphere. Known for his prolific writing, Kuma is constantly re-engaging with different aspects of the architectural discipline, whether it be construction or representation in order to give further progress to his ideas. This richly illustrated volume showcases close to forty high-profile works by Kengo Kuma & Associates (based in Tokyo and Paris), focusing on some of his most recognised works, including the Asakusa Culture and Tourism Center in Tokyo, the Mont Blanc Base Camp project, the Great Bamboo Wall, as well as progress for the design for Tokyo's main stadium for the 2020 Olympic Games. AUTHOR: Kengo Kuma was born in 1954. Before establishing Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990, he received his Master's Degree in Architecture from the University of Tokyo, where he is currently a professor of architecture. Having been inspired by Kenzo Tange's Yoyogi National Gymnasium, built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Kengo Kuma decided to pursue architecture at a young age, and later entered the Architecture programme at the University of Tokyo, where he studied under Hiroshi Hara and Yoshichika Uchida. During his graduate studies, he made a research trip across the Sahara, exploring various villages and settlements, observing a unique power and beauty. After his time as a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York, he established his office in Tokyo. Since then, Kengo Kuma & Associates have designed architectural works in over twenty countries and received prestigious awards, including the Architectural Institute of Japan Award, the Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award (Finland), and the International Stone Architecture Award (Italy), among others. SELLING POINTS: * Rich illustrations and informative discussions highlight how Kengo Kuma's architecture naturally merges with its cultural and environmental surroundings, with a close examination of the experimentation and use of natural materials and light, and how the buildings meet with their natural surroundings * Explores in detail up to forty high-profile projects, including work on Tokyo's main stadium for the 2020 Olympic Games, the renovation of the V&A Dundee waterfront museum in Scotland, as well as more human-scaled works, such as a coffee-house featuring origami-like ceilings designed to offer customers a theatrical experience 300 colour images

Anti-object

Anti-object PDF Author: Kengo Kuma
Publisher: AA Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
"An 'object' is a work of architecture that is expressly cut off from its environment. Objects are not exclusive to any particular architectural style, but objectification has long been central to western architecture. Indeed, it might even be said to be the very strategy by which modernism succeeded in conquering the world. It is all-pervasive because it is consistent with the aim of the prevailing economic system: to transform virtually everything into a commodity.In Anti-Object, Kengo Kuma argues that this mindset prevents us from establishing a healthy relationship with the external world and suggests that an alternative form of architecture is not only desirable but possible as well. His approach is illustrated with a discussion of works by his office in which he has sought, by various tactics, to avoid objectification. The ideas embodied in these diverse projects have much in common with the Japanese tradition, not of 'monuments', but of 'weaker' buildings characterised by their use of natural light and natural materials."--Publisher's website.

Craftland Japan

Craftland Japan PDF Author: Uwe Röttgen
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0500295344
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A stunning photographic survey of Japan’s most ingenious contemporary artisans. Generations of artisans in Japan have forged and refined their crafts to become the envy of the world. Each of the country’s regions are renowned for specific traditions relating to local materials and the natural world in which they are produced. While tourists and design enthusiasts have long acknowledged the unique history and quality of Japanese craftsmanship, very few crafts have made their way outside the country, preventing many from witnessing the quality of Japanese workmanship for themselves. With the aim of sharing these unseen treasures with the wider world, designers Uwe Röttgen and Katharina Zettl set out to find the finest examples of Japanese craftsmanship, traveling around the country to document the makers, their workshops, and the landscapes that influence them. Craftland Japan is the result of this extraordinary journey into the heart of Japanese culture. Featuring twenty-five expert artisans, Craftland Japan reveals the techniques and materials that are used to produce a wide variety of beautiful objects, from porcelain bowls to indigo-dyed fabrics to paper. This book is a celebration of how Japan’s union of craft, design, materiality, and landscape continue to flourish in contemporary interpretation, however much the world around them has changed.

The Surreal Visions of Hernán Díaz Alonso/HDA-X

The Surreal Visions of Hernán Díaz Alonso/HDA-X PDF Author: Hernán Díaz Alonso
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0500343500
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A fantastic showcase of the cutting-edge designs by visionary architect Hernán Díaz Alonso, whose creations are revered by the design world. Hernán Díaz Alonso, one of today’s most influential and innovative architects, heads a multidisciplinary design practice, based in Los Angeles, called HDA-X (formerly Xefirotarch). Praised for its work at the intersection of design, animation, interactive environments, and radical architectural explorations, HDA- X combines these disciplines to create plans for sculptures, architectural ventures, and various objects. Featuring plans for the Helsinki Central Library, a Budapest Museum, and major architectural projects in Barcelona, this book is a spectacular survey of Díaz Alonso’s cutting-edge designs. With an essay by Benjamin H. Bratton and an interview with Díaz Alonso, The Surreal Visions of Hernán Díaz Alonso/HDA-X is perfect for architecture students, teachers, and practitioners, as well as anyone with a passion for design.

Mok Wei Wei

Mok Wei Wei PDF Author: Mok Wei Wei
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0500343454
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
An in-depth monograph on Singapore’s most inventive, thoughtful, and respected architect. During a career spanning over three decades, award-winning architect Mok Wei Wei has helped create the Singapore we see today. This overview of his large- and small-scale projects completed with his practice, W Architects, includes apartment complexes, museums, houses, and community centers, each revealing the architect’s inspirations and his ingenious solutions to the challenges of building in a tropical city. Three themed chapters—"Refract," "Respond," and "Reflect"—move through Mok Wei Wei’s career, from the early 1980s to the present, illustrating his unique approach to designing buildings for a dense urban environment in the context of a diverse multicultural society facing the challenges of climate, heritage preservation, globalism, and national identity. A must-have for fans of Mok Wei Wei and W Architects, Mok Wei Wei is also essential reading for architects building in tropical cities worldwide.

Jim Olson

Jim Olson PDF Author: Jim Olson
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 9780500343333
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A lavish monograph celebrating one of the most respected and admired American architects, known for his sensitivity to the nature and traditions of the Pacific Northwest

Neri & Hu Design and Research Office

Neri & Hu Design and Research Office PDF Author: Rossana Hu
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0500343608
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A stunning collection of projects from Shanghai’s leading architecture and design firm, Neri&Hu. Founded in 2004 by partners Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, Neri&Hu is an interdisciplinary architectural and design practice based in Shanghai that has established an international reputation and following. Through their innovative buildings in China, across Asia, and beyond, the firm has become a design-world favorite, collecting awards such as Overall Winner of the PLAN Award. This lavish volume, the most comprehensive monograph of the studio’s work to date, features more than thirty projects at all scales with specially commissioned photography. Based in research, Neri&Hu “anchors their work on the dynamic interaction of experience, detail, material, form, and light” rather than limiting designs to one specific style. This ethos allows the company to thrive in a number of design disciplines, including architecture, interior design, furniture design, branding, and product design. As engaged with the world of interior design as with large-scale urban redevelopment projects, Neri&Hu’s corpus spans a wide range of works that display Western influences adapted to the particular contexts of Asia. This collection is a beautiful design resource and a must-have for admirers of the firm.