Architecture

Connecting Architecture

對談集つなぐ建築

Kuma Kengo (Author)

Lim Taehee (Advisor)

Lee Jeong-hwan (Translator)

2013. 1. 28. 324 pages 125×175 mm Softcover 9788970596662 KRW 16,000

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Natural Architecture, Weak Architecture: Kuma Kengo on Architecture, Society, and the Future

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster devastated not only Japan’s land but also its social infrastructure and energy systems. In the aftermath, a serious effort to rebuild the fractured society sparked a shift in perspectives on cities and architecture. People began to realize that connecting, rather than demolishing, is essential.

Kuma Kengo , a globally renowned architect, engages in candid conversations with seven thinkers, including a political science professor, architect, urban planner, ecological psychologist, and playwright. Together, they deeply explore how cities and architecture must evolve to address the challenges of our times.

The underlying message in these dialogues is not a loud cry to “destroy!” but a quiet and constructive whisper to “connect.” This book offers profound insights into how architecture and urban planning can foster reconnection, resilience, and harmony in a rapidly changing world.

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.

Lim Taehee

After completing a research program in Architecture at Kyoto University, he returned to South Korea and gained six years of practical experience in the field. He later went back to Japan and earned a Ph.D. in Architecture from Kyoto Institute of Technology. Currently, he runs Im Taehee Design Studio, continuing to work on various projects.

Lee Jeong-hwan

Lee Jeong-hwan graduated from Kyung Hee University’s Department of Business Administration and Intercultural Japanese Language School. He is a researcher of Eastern philosophy and religion, a Japanese translator, and a writer. He has translated many books into Korean, including The Architecture of Tomorrow, The Secret of the Macaroni Hole, Connecting Architecture, 三低主, White, Nagaoka Kenmei no Kangae, Tokyo University Students Become Fools, and Ready Luck.

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