Architecture

Onomatopoeia, Mimicry, and Architecture

オノマトペ建築

Kuma Kengo Author

Lee Kyu-won Translator

2017. 6. 5. 244 pages 175x238 mm Softcover 9788970598963 KRW 27,000

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편집자의 글

Architecture as Heard and Seen Through Kengo Kuma’s Unique Language

32 Architectural Works Expressed in Onomatopoeia and Mimicry

Kengo Kuma is a fourth-generation postwar Japanese architect, following in the lineage of Tadao Ando and Toyo Ito. He is known for advocating small, weak, low, and slow architecture, challenging conventional notions of monumentality and permanence. Since the publication of Natural Architecture in 2010, Ahn Graphics has consistently introduced his works to readers.

In his latest book, Onomatopoeia and Mimicry in Architecture, Kuma presents his projects through his own architectural language. Onomatopoeia and mimicry words are inherently ambiguous and undefined, unlike conventional architectural terminology, which seeks precise and rigid definitions. Kuma undertook this project to critique the rigid, rationalist, and standardized language that has long dominated architecture. His goal is to break free from these constraints and restore architecture’s organic connection to human life.

The book features 32 architectural projects, categorized under 11 onomatopoeic and mimetic expressions, such as bokusubokusu (fluffy), cheopcheopcheopcheop (layered), soongsoongsoongsoong (porous), and palangpalang (fluttering). These projects span across Japan, France, Taiwan, China, the UK, Germany, and Italy, covering a diverse range of building types, including museums, workshops, cultural centers, residences, cafés, installations, city halls, schools, shops, hotels, and tea houses.

차례

Responsive and Expressive Architecture · Kim Kwang-hyun

Wriggling, Flinching · Im Tae-hee

Strengthening the Connection Between Humanity and the World by Particleizing Architecture

Soongsoongsoongsoong (Porous)

Lotus House
Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum
Kyushu Geibun-kan Annex 2
Besançon Art and Culture Center
Pengyan

Sulsulsulsul (Flowing)

Water/Cherry

Binggeulbinggeul (Spinning)

Xinjin Zhi Art Museum
Kyushu Geibun-kan Main Building
Nangchangnangchang

Cheopcheopcheopcheop (Layered)

Asakusa Culture and Tourism Center
Aore Nagaoka
Entrepôt Macdonald

Geoseulgeoseul (Rough and Uneven)

Jokura Plaza
Towada Civic Interaction Plaza

Kkachilkkachil (Coarse and Gritty)

Net/Earth
PC Garden
China Academy of Art Folk Art Museum

Ppijukppijuk (Pointed and Jagged)

GC Prostho Museum Research Center
Starbucks Dazaifu Tenmangu Omotesando
SunnyHills Japan

Soongssoongssoongssoongs (Airy and Perforated)

Glass/Wood House

Bokseulbokseul (Fluffy and Cozy)

Yusuhara Resting Shelter for Travelers
Sensing Spaces
Detchang

Palangpalang (Fluttering)

Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud
Marseille Museum of Contemporary Art
Aix-en-Provence Conservatory of Music
Hojoan 800 Years Later
Xiangxia Shanghai

Puksin Puksin (Soft and Cushioned)

Tea House
Memu Meadows
Cocoon

Project Information

Photography Details

Kuma Kengo

Born in Yokohama in 1954, he studied architecture at the University of Tokyo and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Department of Architecture and Urban Planning in the United States. He is currently a principal of Kengo Kuma and Associates and a special professor and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo. His major works include Kiro-San observatory (1994), Water/Glass, Atami, Noh Stage in the Forest /Moributai Traditional Performing Arts Museum, Bato Hiroshige Museum, Great (Bamboo) Wall House, Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, Suntory’s Tokyo office building, China Academy of Art’s Folk Art Museum, V&A Dundee, and the Japan National Stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Lee Kyu-won

She majored in Japanese at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. She has worked as an editor for many years, organizing books in various fields including science, humanities, and history. She is currently working as a professional translator. He has translated Miyuki Miyabe’s Reason, Seicho Matsumoto’s Masterpiece Short Story Collection, Alaska, A Story Like the Wind, Tadao Ando’s I, Architect, and more than 80 other books.