Stonescepe. A project for Agape, Il Casone and Mapei.
Bologna Water Design, September 25-29, 2012

Veronica Dal Buono: In your work there not only monumental buildings, but also small humble structures as pavilions.
Which is your approach to design for temporary project?
Kengo Kuma: Temporary projects are like Japanese tea houses. The Japanese tea houses are very small buildings, people that come can feel the philosophy of the artist behind them. So I have the same approach of the tea houses and I use it in designing that kind of small pavilions.

V.D.B.: Which role play materials and how much are they important in your projects?
K.K.: Materials are the basis of artificial design and I always try to pick up the essence of the material in my design. If we can pick up the heart of the material, then architecture can have the core. So, basically, that is my approach to the materials.

V.D.B.: Stonescape is not your first project focusing on elements like stone and water. How do you express this relation in your design?
Stone, especially the one used in Stonescape project is pietra forte fiorentina is a creation of the water itself. The water cuts the stone, there is a very strong relation between the two elements, for this reason I use to combine stone and water very often.
In this case, once more, I combined stone and water and then used them with the Agape products which ...

V.D.B.: The bathroom, also in Japanese culture, is a symbolic space, based on the relation between mind, body and materials. How do you face these themes in your design?
K.K.: Bathroom is actually the centre of Japanese house. In the bathroom, people can feel the harmony with nature. In the 21st century people realized that the relation between harmony and nature was the goal of our lives, and basically this is the main reason why the bathroom is getting bigger and bigger.

V.D.B.: Do you think that design can have a role in current contemporarity of economic crisis?
K.K.: I think that through the economic crisis people can discover the importance of their relationship with nature and realize the real gorgeousness of nature. After the crisis people can finally find that kind of value.

V.D.B.: How do you see the future of architecture in the emergent countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China?
K.K.: In those country still remains the beauty of nature. As a process of development, those countries should preserve their rich nature and if they can succeed to combine nature with architecture and respect the natural environment, they will become a model for our future lives.  

V.D.B.: Do you have any project under development in Brazil?
K.K.: No, I do not have any project in Brazil. It is a special country, many Japanese people moved to Brazil and they brought Japanese culture there. I visited Brazil for the first time when I was 20 years old and I was really impressed by the beauty of the country, and in the future I would really like to work there.

V.D.B.: Brazil is a country that can be considered as one of the most important in terms of world economy. Many international architects have already developed projects in San Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. How do see the possibility to work in a country with so many alternatives both in the perspective of cultural and natural resources?
K.K.: Even in terms of culture Brazil is also a very unique country, Brazilian people have an open mentality, their attitude to the society is very impressive. Through that culture new models of architecture can be created. For instance, many Brazilian architects have already estabilished interesting buildings and the aesthetics of those architectures is very different from the one we can find in other countries
 
V.D.B.: Do you have any project under construction here in Italy?
K.K.: Yes, we have a project in Rovereto and recently we won a competition in Val di Susa.
Even in time of economic crisis, those projects are going very smoothly

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A project for

Technical sponsor: Open Project, Frassinagodiciotto, Davide Groppi

Press STONESCAPE

Lab MD | Facoltà di Architettura di Ferrara

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