About this Event
- Livestream Link: This event will be in person and livestreamed. The livestream is available at the top of this page: https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/kengo-kuma-in-conversation-with-grace-la/
- Please note: Registration does not guarantee entry, which is filled on a first-come-first-served basis. Doors open 15 minutes before the event begins, so be sure to arrive early.
- Registration is required for non-Harvard affiliates. As space is limited, registration is required for a limited number of seats reserved for non-Harvard affiliates. Harvard affiliates will need to show ID at the door.
- AIA Continuing Education Credits: This event is approved for 1.5 LU|Elective credits through the American Institute of Architects. For attendees wishing to register for credit, a form will be available at the end of the event.
- Books will be available for sale on site courtesy of Harvard Book Store.
About This Event
Join us for an event celebrating the release of (Thames & Hudson), the second monograph on one of the world’s preeminent architects, showcasing projects completed around the world between 2012 and 2024—a long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed Kengo Kuma: Complete Works. This event succeeds his delivery of the John Hejduk Soundings Lecture, “Kengo Kuma, Return to Nature,” held at the GSD in spring 2025.
In the book’s introductory essay, Grace La considers Kuma’s evolution since his previous monograph and explores the themes of his work and how they relate to the architecture world today. The projects included in Kengo Kuma: New Works—stadiums and cultural centers, museums and houses, cafés and parks, temples and pavilions—have been chosen by Kuma himself as best representative of this stage in his career.
A prolific writer and philosopher, Kengo Kuma proposes architecture that introduces new relationships between nature, technology, and human beings. This book surveys forty projects arranged according to building use, with a timely focus on those that respond to natural disasters and the pandemic, build on the importance of local communities, and address our need to come together with others.
The projects range in scale and ambition, from Japan’s Olympic Stadium—where Kuma used timber from every region in the country to build the nation’s largest arena—to a small community center in Yusuhara, and a fairytale museum in Denmark. Each celebrates Kuma’s skill using natural materials, as he pushes them to their limits to create exciting and surprising forms. Take for instance, The Exchange, a community center in Sydney, which has wooden “threads” which wrap around the building, giving the impression of a bird’s nest and the UCCA Clay Museum in Yixing, China, with an undulating organic form that mimics a mountain, covered with 3,600 handmade, clay terracotta tiles.
The Harvard Book Store will sell books on site following the conversation. Book signing and library dedication will take place in the Loeb Library. This event is also part of the Architecture Department’s _positions lecture series.
Speakers
Kengo Kuma was born in 1954. He proposes architecture that opens up new relationships between nature, technology, and human beings, and established Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA) in 1990. The firm currently has projects underway in more than 50 countries. Kuma is a University Professor and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo, after teaching at Keio University. His major publications include KENGO KUMA New Works, Kengo Kuma Onomatopoeia Architecture Grounding (X-Knowledge), Nihon no Kenchiku (Architecture of Japan, Iwanami Shoten), Zen Shigoto (Kengo Kuma,Complete Works, Daiwa Shobo), Ten Sen Men (Point Line Plane, Iwanami Shoten), Makeru Kenchiku (Architecture of Defeat, Iwanami Shoten), Shizen na Kenchiku (Natural Architecture, Iwanami Shinsho), Chii-sana Kenchiku (Small Architecture, Iwanami Shinsho), and many others.
Grace La is professor and chair of the department of architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She is cofounding principal of LA DALLMAN, a practice internationally recognized for integrating architecture, engineering, and landscape. Author of the book The Middle Front and a frequent speaker on architecture, she hosts the Talking Practice podcast.
Event venue & nearby stays
Harvard University Graduate School Of Design, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, United States
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