Kengo

Zarkon Group Real Estate Builders & Developers > Blog > Kengo

Tag: Kengo

kengo kuma’s tokyo café reuses shrine materials for origami facade
CategoriesArchitecture

kengo kuma’s tokyo café reuses shrine materials for origami facade

By Zarkon Group,

kengo kuma revives traditional craft and materials

 

This so-called Wakuni Shoten café is set to open in In the heart of Higashimurayama City, Tokyo with architecture by Japanese icon Kengo Kuma. Recognized at once by its textural, patterned facade, the architecture expresses a contemporary reading of tradition. Its materials have been repurposed from a Shinto shrine, and have been reassembled with influence from the art of origami. Thus, the project is more than a café, but a celebration of community, sustainability, and the enduring spirit of Japanese craftsmanship. With its architecture now complete, the Wakuni Shoten café will open in January 2024.

kengo kuma wakuni shotenimages courtesy Kengo Kuma & Associates

 

 

learning from the heritage of tokyo

 

The Wakuni Shoten café is the result of a collaboration between Kengo Kuma & Associates, Okaniwa Construction Co., and Tomokazu Uchino, head of Uchino Sheet Metal. The space was born from a deep love for Uchino’s childhood home, the Aoba shopping district. Witnessing the district’s gradual decline, the team sought to breathe new life into the area while celebrating its rich heritage. The collaboration with Kengo Kuma and his design team proved to be the perfect marriage of vision and expertise, as the Japanese architect is known for his work with salvaged materials.kengo kuma reuses shinto shrine materials for origami facade of tokyo café

 

 

the folded facade in green and blue

 

The defining feature of Kengo Kuma’s Wakuni Shoten café is undoubtedly its exterior, a patterned composition of seven hundred patinated bronze plates each sourced from the roof of Hayatani Shrine in Hiroshima Prefecture. Rather than discarding these disused plates, Tomokazu Uchino and his team of skilled craftsmen painstakingly reshaped and repurposed them, imbuing them with a new lease on life. The result is a mesmerizing facade that shimmers with a spectrum of greens and blues.

kengo kuma wakuni shoten

 

 

The café’s interior walls are finished in a stark black plaster, serving as a backdrop for brass accents, including lampshades, sinks, baseboards, and kitchen elements. Even the outdoor chairs, designed by Kengo Kuma and crafted from salvaged seats of the former National Stadium, echo this theme of reuse. Sustainability is woven into the very fabric of the project. The decision to reuse the cafe’s original 52-year-old framework honors the past while minimizing environmental impact. By reinforcing the foundation and strategically integrating new wood, the team has revived the derelict structure, demonstrating a respect for both the environment and the district’s history.

kengo kuma wakuni shoten

 

 

project info:

 

project title: Wakuni Shoten Café | @wakuni_cafe

location: Aoba Shopping District, Higashimurayama City, Tokyo, Japan

architecture: Kengo Kuma | @kkaa_official

materials collaborator: Tomokazu Uchino | @tomokazu_uchino, @uchinobankin

design, construction: Okaniwa Construction Co. | @okaniwastyle

client: Wakuni Shoten | @wakunishoten

opening: January 2024



Reference

kengo kuma’s ‘kiki’s museum of literature’ soon to open in tokyo
CategoriesArchitecture

kengo kuma’s ‘kiki’s museum of literature’ soon to open in tokyo

By Zarkon Group,

UPDATE: Kengo Kuma has announced that its Edogawa City Eiko Kadono Museum of Children’s Literature, also known as the ‘Kiki’s Museum of Literature,’ will open to the public on November 3rd, 2023. New images have been captured of the village-like structure and its playful interiors as it nears completion.

kengo kuma unveils ‘kiki’s museum of literature’

In honor of author Eiko Kadono, Kengo Kuma and Associates designs a hilltop museum for children‘s literature. Defined by its playful geometries finished in pink and white, the museum overlooks Nagisa Park in Edogawa City, Tokyo. The design team expects the building to open by the summer of 2023, at which point visitors in Japan across all ages will be invited to experience the world of Eiko Kadono, who famously authored ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service,’ a story which, in 1989, inspired Studio Ghibli’s film adaptation directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

kengo kuma eiko kadono
images courtesy Kengo Kuma and Associates © Kiki’s Museum of Literature

inspired by the worlds of eiko kadono

Kengo Kuma and Associates draws influence from the fictional works of Eiko Kadono in the design of the children’s literature museum in Edogawa City. The architecture of the new cultural space will echo the atmosphere of the fictional town illustrated in the author’s best-selling novel. The design team explains: ‘We thought the architecture would be designed starting with small units, like the little houses that often appear in the stories of Kadono.’ These small boxes will follow the gentle slope of the hill, and will be enclosed with wide, projecting roofs that lightly reach outward ‘like blooming flowers.’ Follow the development of the project on the museum’s official Instagram.

kengo kuma eiko kadono
clustered boxes will echo the fictional town illustrated in Eiko Kadono’s Kiki’s Delivery Service kengo kuma eiko kadono
the museum is designed in honor of author Eiko Kadono kengo kuma's 'kiki's museum of literature' soon to open in tokyo
a third floor café overlooks the Old Edogawa River

Reference