Wisdom Tea House by Kengo Kuma & Associates Not very often we can witness such a singular rendezvous between two Japanese master architects from disparate historical moments as Kenzo Tange and Kengo Kuma, whose understanding of their own culture and tradition has marked significant swerves in the architectural discourse. Since ancient times Japan has learned from the extensive use of wood as the base material for its everyday constructions. Only after the end of the 19th. Century (Meiji restoration) with the introduction of reinforced concrete the use of wood dimmed. Kenzo Tange became an emblematic figure during his years of apogee in the 60’s until the end of his career by developing sophisticated concrete structures for large scale buildings. More recently Kengo Kuma has set a counter discourse by re‐ evaluating the wisdom of craftsmanship and the use of diverse materials, including wood, in several scales and formats. The encounter we are referring is taking place in the prominent United Nations University Headquarters, designed by Kenzo Tange in 1992. The building sets back from the busy Aoyama street in central Tokyo to open a plaza which acts as a good paradigm of public space within the city, used during weekends as a farmer’s market. From mid November the plaza has also become temporarily the venue to host a series of small pavilions designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates, with the intriguing name of “Wisdom Tea House”. The installation introduces a reinterpretation of Japanese wooden construction and also resonates with the democratic spirit that Tange once envisioned for his creation. The idea of Tea Houses is recurrent in the latest practice of Kuma. In general, its origins can be tracked in Kamo no Chomei’s Hojoki (Translated as ‘An account of My Hut’), where the idea is about individual renunciation of the world into a small hut as a result of several disasters happening in Japan during the 13th Century. However from Kuma’s several studies about what he labels contemporary tea houses, we can learn that his interpretation is not anymore about individual isolation. It has rather become a social mechanism of connection in the recent moments of disasters. The wisdom behind Tange and Kuma might lie in the right use of materials and its introduction in the right historical moment. Finally today Kuma is restating the cycle of ancient knowledge, which has been interrupted in the last fifty years by unquestioned belief into technological advancements. The architecture of the WTH is broken down into four smaller units, conformed by an ascending tower and three lower tea pavilions. The wood tower, which is the key element of the installation, has been constructed by employing a refined technique of weaving vertically and obliquely thin rectangular wooden sticks into an open spatial lattice. Wooden sticks, each being 3m long and 10cmx10cm in their cross section, are interlocked as ascending 10m high structure by making special notches in the wood. Two subsequent tea pavilions have been erected by connecting wooden sticks into the framework of rafters and battens, covered by sheets of translucent waterproof material (Tyvek). The spatial conception of WTH has been designed to fit human scale and to trigger people interaction, intended through specific design events. We had the chance to talk directly with Kengo Kuma and two other people in charge of the project to learn more details. RB & IP: As you knew you were going to have this installation, provocatively titled ‘Wisdom Tea House’, right in front of a building of Kenzo Tange. Did you think about a dialog between your work and his building? What is the concept behind your idea of ‘contemporary tea house’ in our present context? Kengo Kuma: Tange represents the era after the Second World War. We call him ‘champion of the 1st generation architects’. Fumihiko Maki and Kisho Kurokawa are the 2nd generation. Tadao Ando and Toyo Ito are the 3rd generation. With Kazuyo Sejima, we are the 4th generation. Tange’s response to an almost destroyed city after the war was to create strong and beautiful concrete monuments. Indeed, it was something fundamentally necessary after the war. 11/03 Earthquake gave us an important lesson that concrete buildings were not strong enough in front of the strongness of nature. Thus, I think, our role is to find a solution to the city, which is remarkably different from Tange’s. Wisdom of Japanese tradition is to select the location of the building carefully, based on the knowledge of older people. They never built close to the ocean in tsunami areas as the ancestors had told them the danger of these places. This is wisdom of our society. Before the WWII we had this kind of wisdom, but we lost it. After the war industrialization gave us different knowledge of strong concrete structures that can be built anywhere in the world. Therefore the location of the Wisdom Tea House is very important as it is just in front of Kenzo Tange’s building. The lesson from this project is to define wisdom of Japanese tradition and different kind of strongness again. I would like to show a new kind of monumentality as well. Concrete and steel construction technology was introduced in Japan from the Western countries. Traditionally, Japanese value sensibility to textures and materials of natural sources. I believe, in this way we still can create a monumental building. This kind of monumentality is different from Tange’s as it is softer and milder, broken down to smaller parts. Even composing from small, thin elements, we can create strongness. This is another lesson from our monument. RB & IP: In your latest works we have seen inspiration of traditional wooden construction systems coming from everyday instruments, such as children’s toy for instance (specifically one named Chidori). Comparing those ideas with this Tea house, which are the differences in terms of performance of the material? Kengo Kuma: Wisdom Tea House is some kind of structural evolution from two projects – Prostho Museum Research Center in Kasugai and Starbucks Coffee in Dazaifu‐Tenmangu. The difference from those two is the joint system we use in this installation. For Starbucks Coffee project we used a very special joint (wooden sticks assembled diagonally, slightly shifting intersections to avoid four sticks to connect at one point). Chidori joint (three sticks intersect at one point by making special notches in the wood) is aesthetically beautiful. Structurally it is not a rational system. Chidori joint is tricky and very difficult to assemble. Probably, only a very limited number of carpenters can deal with it. The joint system of the Wisdom Tea House is very simple and conventional. Only two elements are connected together at one point. Structurally it is more reasonable. Before the WWII every Japanese carpenter was using this kind of joint. The system of the Wisdom Tea House can be called an open one. Even today, every Japanese carpenter with a little training can do this kind of joint and monument. I want to open this system to everybody again. RB & IP: It is somehow to bring back the wisdom that was already there by reinterpreting it. While Tange was making big plans for the city, Hiroshi Hara, one of the masters who nourished your knowledge in the years of your architectural formation, was making small insertions in the city. How do you see the work of Tange framed from a contemporary‐traditional approach as your architecture? Kengo Kuma: Tange understood the importance of Japanese tradition. For some buildings, as Kagawa Prefectural Government Hall, he used a composition of two kinds of elements, vertical and horizontal, based on the traditional Japanese wooden construction system. However, the dimensions of this concrete structure are not fitting comfortably to the scale of human body. Hiroshi Hara, on the contrary, wanted to go back to the small scale. Hara taught me the importance of smallness. Though, he was not interested in using traditional system of wooden elements. This is a difference between Hara and me. Tange, Hara and I, we have had some kind of progression in our approaches of going back to wisdom. RB & IP: Speaking about the constraints of the material, wood has somehow more limitations than concrete. Until which limit you would like to stretch it? Kengo Kuma: I think that limit of the material is a good feature of the wood. For this project the maximum length of an element is 3m. It is a natural limit of the material itself, present in most of Japanese wooden houses even today. In the Hōryū‐ji period (8th and 9th century) it was possible to find larger wooden materials easily. Already in the Edo era, during the 17th to 18th century, the length of the material was limited to 3m. The limit of 3m restrains the dimensions of the building – ceiling height and spanning. It is a natural modular coordination, fitting to the size of human body. Concrete on the other hand allow us to forget the limits and we can misunderstand the sense of scale. We think that we can do anything. Concrete makes us arrogant; wood makes us humble as designers. This is a big difference. RB & IP: When Kamo no Chomei recounted a series of calamities that had happened to the country, he was writing about renunciation of the world as the reaction. At this moment of history we have another Japan, yet shaken again by disasters. How do you intend to react with your architecture upon the occurrences of today? Kengo Kuma: I would like to revigorate the network of people by using local and natural materials. In the 20th century every material came from factories in Tokyo. Concrete as a material came from Tokyo. Somehow we have forgotten that the north area of Tohoku is rich in forests. We have abandoned this resource, thus the conditions of forests have worsened. The use of local wooden materials in construction can contribute to the reactivation of the small economies and also to recover the conditions of the forests. This is another lesson from this project, to connect architecture and people. RB & IP: Regarding the program of this project as a public space, you have divided it into three interdependent elements; there is a ‘monument’, a place for activities and finally an area for services. What brought you to design under such strategy? Kengo Kuma: To divide a building in parts is very important. In the 20th century we tended to make a building as big as possible. In the 21st century small sub‐elements work together, creating some kind of flexible and comfortable network for us. It is ideal solution for the building of the 21st century. Rafael A. Balboa, Ilze Paklone Building Data Kengo Kuma & Associates: Wisdom Tea House Design: Kengo Kuma & Associates Location: Shibuya, Tokyo, United Nations University Centre Structure: Wooden construction Main use: Temporary installation Completion date: November 2012 The authors would like to thank architect Kengo Kuma for his generous time for the interview, and Shin Ohba and Kai Araki from Kengo Kuma & Associates for providing the necessary materials and information. Special thanks goes to Salvator John A. Liotta for his kind support.