In the Studio: Kengo Kuma

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.3 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2023

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kengo Kuma has a philosophy: to enrich the connection between buildings and nature, “almost tuning-in” to the materials. His architecture is inspired by traditional Japanese design, and he is a serious critic of the global dominance of concrete. Kuma’s mission has manifested in iconic buildings including China’s Folk Art Museum, the V&A in Scotland, and Japan’s National Stadium, built for the 2020 Olympics. Broadcaster Nick Luscombe follows Kuma to Japan’s oldest and largest lake, and to the ancient capital of Otsu, where Kuma is attempting to represent the history of the area not by constructing a new building, but by creating a monument to a legendary cow.

Transcript

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0:00.0	An original audio drama series from the BBC World Service, Fukushima tells the story of the 2011 disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.
0:12.0	We lose the Daiichi nuclear power plant. Then we lose Japan as we know it.
0:16.8	Listen to the series now by searching for Fukushima
0:19.8	wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.
0:31.0	Welcome to the documentary in the studio from the BBC World Service, the program that follows the processes and goes inside the minds of the world's leading creatives.
0:38.0	Today we begin in Tokyo, home of some of the world's most extraordinary buildings, and hometown of me, Nick Luskin.
0:45.1	In Japan, we have many great architects. Those architects did create a beautiful huge monument in the big city. The latest giant in Japan's long
0:55.1	legacy of amazing architects is Kenko Kuma. I've been amazed by the way
1:01.7	that he blends innovation and tradition ever since I saw him give a talk in London back in 2018.
1:07.5	He struck me as a philosopher first and foremost, one who uses architecture to communicate his thoughts on how we should all
1:15.3	live together.
1:16.3	In 20th century, most of modernism architects were focusing on concrete and steel, whereas I want to go to opposite direction.
1:27.0	Time magazine named Kuma as one of the world's most influential people in 2021.
1:32.0	You may well be familiar with some of his
1:34.7	unmissible buildings around the world. Our normal project is very practical
1:39.6	architecture and buildings. The most famous, Tokyo's iconic National Stadium, a timber construction
1:47.0	for the 2020 Olympics.
1:49.0	I have been trying to avoid industrial material as possible as can.
1:54.0	Then there's the Folk Art Museum in China made of roof tiles,
1:58.0	the VNA Museum in Dundee, which stands on the waterfronts like a petrified ship,
2:02.0	even an immersive Starbucks built from sticks.
2:06.0	The local natural material is a totally opposite direction from our former generation.
	...

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