No matter how rich the tactile qualities of materials are, if they appear as single masses, then to me they are not vivid, because they do not change their expression. If materials are thoroughly made into particles, they are transient like rainbows. At times they strongly appear as objects, but with a momentary change of light or in respect to the observer’s movement they instantly disperse like clouds and dissolve like mist. Louvers that appeared to be walls suddenly become transparent and disappear. This transience and fragility is their charm and their very essence.
- From Kengo Kuma’s office philosophy

Kuma’s recent work includes an inflatable teahouse for a museum in Frankfurt, a house made of umbrellas for the Milan Trienalle, the Museum of Ando Hiroshige, the Horai Onsen Bath House in Atami, Louis Vuitton Tokyo Headquarters, and the Nagasaki Prefectural Museum. He was awarded the International Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award in 2002 for his major wooden architectures.

Major works include the Water/Glass (1995), Stage in Forest, Toyoma Center for Performance Arts (1997, Architectural Institute of Japan Annual Award 1997), Stone Museum (2000, International Stone Architecture Award 2001), Bato-machi Hiroshige Museum (2001, The Murano Prize 2001). In competitions, Kuma received First Prize, Besançon City of Arts and Culture Architecture Competition (2007, Besançon, France), and First Prize, Architectural Complex of Government Buildings at “Eiffel Hall,” Western Railway Station of Budapest (2007). He also received awards for the Chokkura Plaza and Shelter (2006), including Detail Prize 2007, as well as the 2008 Energy Performance + Architecture Award for his body of work.

Kuma was born in Kanagawa, Japan in 1954. He completed his Masters degree at Tokyo University in 1979, and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University from 1985 to 1986. In 1990 he established Kengo Kuma & Associates. From 2001, he has been a professor at Faculty of Science and Technolgy, Keio University, and is currently serving as the 2007-2008 Plym Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Illinois, USA).

For more information about Kengo Kuma and Associates see
http://www.kkaa.co.jp

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Tickets:
$10 Advance from Peter Miller Books (Seattle) or Brown Paper Tickets
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/43979
$15 Door

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