No buildings visible to the naked eye, no towers at Kengo Kuma. The famous Japanese architect, chosen to oversee the new Olympic stadium in Tokyo, has only one credo: to reintroduce nature in cities. What he plans to do at the future Saint-Denis Pleyel station, flagship project of the Greater Paris-Express.
“My work is a reflection against the evolution of cities: with concrete, the cities of the twentieth were too far from nature,” deplores the architect, passing in Paris to present his project.
At the age of 62, he has included oak, bamboo, cedar and larch trees in his buildings throughout the world: in Japan of course, but also in Portland (USA) where he has just renovated Japanese gardens, a commune near The Great Wall of China, or the Cité des Arts in Besançon.
The idea is to “reintroduce natural materials (often local, editor’s note) and to merge architecture with nature, to go against the architect where we put boxes”, explains He told AFP.
Originally Published In Paris, July 9, 2017 (AFP).
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Link To: Kengo Kuma Website:
