Tropicana Jan-Feb 2018 #116 A Start from the Heart

THE HOME | natural selection
The elements are another important ingredient in
Kuma’s work – wind, temperature, humidity and most
importantly light. Employing a technique adapted from
the traditional Japanese home or minka which lacks
windows but instead used paper and rice straw to filter
sun and moonlight; Kuma’s firm manipulates materials
in unlikely ways to achieve the same effect.
Among his most ingenious solutions has been the use
of translucent walls. Creating bricks from polyethylene
plastic, his firm created what appeared to be building
blocks for a private member’s club in Beijing. If it were
anywhere else it would have looked awkward and out of
place but set within striking distance of the Forbidden
City, the Beijing Tea House simultaneously stood out and
adapted to its surroundings.
A similar effect was used for a Japanese furniture
manufacturer, this time using moulded ETFE plastic to
create undulating outer walls and transparent PVC and
mesh for its inner walls. This exploitation of natural
light and the insulating properties of the materials
additionally reduced energy use, which is an important
consideration – after all, architecture and design are not
merely about form but function.
Beguiling as his work is, it is there to solve a
problem. His technique of chequering, criss-crossing
and lattices on facades, and repetitive patterns and use of
textures, do this with aplomb. One need look no further
than the Suntory Museum Of Art in Tokyo whose quiet
minimalism creates a sense of space and calm, its moods
changing with the time of day and seasons.
By fashioning forms from materials, bending and
folding in the style of origami, his structures are strong
and beautiful. Take, for example, his use of perforated
aluminium mesh on the exterior of the award-winning
Hongkou Soho building in Shanghai. Resembling soft
draping, like a skirt twirling at the ankles of some
debutante, it appears to morph according to the pattern
of light striking it.
Regional Fund for
Contemporary Art (Frac)
of the Provence-Alpes-
Côtes d’Azur (PACA)
“It is this
reinterpretation
of traditional
practices for the
21st century that
has marked Kuma’s
practice out from
others and can be
seen in the use of
materials and his
manipulation of
them.”
TM | january/february 2018
46