kenzo kuma research
TRANSCRIPT
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 1/16
Materiality, Methods and Intentions
Michael McDowell
Jungyun Lee (Boi)
Priyanka Shah
KENGO KUMA: Ginzan Onsen Fujiya
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 2/16
Building Information
• Three storeyed
• All-wooden
• Japanese-style inn
• Renovated by July 22, 2006
• Architect: Kengo Kuma and Associates
• Guest Rooms: 8
• Capacity: 16 guests
• Facilities: 5 private natural hot spring baths, café, parking
• Gross square footage: 9,990 sq. ft.
Kenzo Kuma on designing the Fujiya Inn
When designing Fujiya inn, I developed the concept of layers, both in time
and space.
I devised a layered effect in the architecture by using fine filters. These filters
employed the craftsmanship of Mr. Hideo Nakata, who made the bamboo
screens called ‘sumushiko’, and also the work of Mr. Masato Shida, a stained-
glass expert who used traditional techniques to produce the light-green
stained glass called ‘verdátre’.
Both are delicate filters that require special care to make and to maintain. But
it is this careful treatment that helps these delicate structures to mature, and,
after time, to radiate a rich flow.
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 3/16
Materials used in the building
Exterior Cladding Wood Plastered wall, elm
Roofing Metal Yodoko (galvanized
steel plate)
Glazing Glass Floating glass, stained
glass
Doors Metal doors Metal flash door
Wood doors Wooden flash door
Sliding doors Wooden flash door
Upswinging doors, other Wooden flash door
Hardware Closers Concealed door closer
Cabinet hardware Special order
Interior finishes Suspension grid LGS system
Cabinetwork and
custom woodwork
Elm
Paints and stains Acrylic emulsion paint,
Urethane clear paint
Wallcoverings Japanese rice paper
Floor and wall tile Coral Gray Stone
Furnishings Reception furniture Tendo Mokko: Steel
frame, 10x10
phosphoric acid treated
Fixed Seating Chairs Tendo Mokko: Steel
frame, 10x10
phosphoric acid treated
Tables Tendo Mokko: Steel
frame, 10x10
phosphoric acid treated
Lighting Interior ambient lighting Indirect lighting
Conveyance Elevators/Escalators Mitsubishi (elevator with
capacity for 6 people
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 4/16
and finished with special
paint
Accessibility provision
(lifts, ramping, etc.)
Lift for food
Plumbing Toilet Imax-Satis
Shower Fantini
Sink Agape and Toto
Faucet Cera and Advan.
(Onsen faucets are
custom)
Other building
components or special
equipment
Sumushiko Made by master
craftsman Hideo Nakata
and his son (Sumishiko:
bamboo cut into 4 mm
pieces. 1200000 pieces
used in this project
Stained glass Pientre Verrier by
Masato Shida
• The vitreous panels, set within a steel-frame, create a slightly mottled,
subtly stained greenish-blue surface that infuses the lobby with an almost
aqueous character.
• Knotted bamboo and vertical wood pieces compose these screens’ filigree
• A delicate screen made from 4 mm wide slits of bamboo (Sumushiko)
surrounds the atrium. The surface is rough.
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 5/16
• A transparent stained glass called Dalle de Verre first used in the Middle
Ages is fit into the opening which faces the exterior space: light-green
stained glass called ‘Verdatre’.
• Choreographing a sequence of entry rooms divided by veil-like walls of
remarkable materials.
• Handmade Echizen-style Japanese paper
• Other materials used elsewhere: Aluminium, Acrylic Glass
• Between the reception in the front and the ground level’s baths in the rear,
a sandstone-floored atrium is surrounded on three sides by screens made
of 1/10 inch thick bamboo strips. The main stair, which connects the first
and second levels, combines elm treads and acid-etched steel railings.
• A suite’s cabinetry, veneered in white ash, double as a headboard.
• Steel rods bolted to the ceiling support the treads of the back stair, which
links the top two levels.
• The exterior is cladded with white-washed stucco and aged wood
elements.
Site Plan
• Rural Japan
• Tucked within several rural buildings that were scaled at similar
dimensions
• Lushly vegetated mountains surround the site
• The primary stretch of buildings is organized along the embankment of a
canal in meandering fashion.
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 6/16
Approach and Programme
• The approach leads one past a bridge, over the canal and over a smaller
footbridge and a reflecting pool at the entrance.
• The entry is a succession of glass and wood screens
• The lofty entrance hall can be reached without any easily discernible
distinction between the inside and the outside
• Sitting areas and the café in this large hall
• Spa’s numerous bathing alcoves dot each of the floors
• Upper two stories contain eight guest rooms
• Each encompasses a main area sized at ten tatami mats, and each is
sparingly outfitted with a long wooden bathtub, a counter and a washbasin.
Light and Texture
• Understated protagonist in this project
• The spaces rely on diffused and reflected light
• This light is tempered through one or more layers of screens
• Approximately 1.2 million thin, knotted bamboo and vertical wood pieces
compose these screens’ filigree.
• The sources of light are hidden (even the artificial sources), creating a soft
glow around the edges of the spaces, above or below, depending on the
room.
• Crucial relationships between the light, screens and views, at a very fine
scale.
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 7/16
Construction and other Details
“We wanted to retain the continuity of the old facade while introducing a new
spirit and modern amenities,” explains Kuma. To do so, the architect took
apart the existing building, then reassembled it using old and new wood
members. He kept the original silhouette and traditional Japanese post-and-
beam construction, but inserted larger, wood-framed windows and a new
sliding glass entry wall. “The idea was to connect the street with the lobby
inside,” says Kuma. “So we established a new sense of transparency.”
So breaking ranks with the scale or massing of its neighbors was out of the
question.
Recessed beneath sloping wooden eaves and set behind a pair of reflecting
pools, the entry wall reveals a materiality that hints at the era-blending design
within. Here, Kuma employed a centuries-old, hand-blown-glass technique
from France called dalle de verre. The vitreous panels, set within a steel-
frame, create a slightly mottled, subtly stained greenish-blue surface that
infuses the lobby with an almost aqueous character. And instead of welcoming
guests into a low-ceiling reception space (as is customary in Japanese inns),
he wows them with a two-story-high atrium furnished with modern tables,
chairs, and sofas that he designed with a Zen-like simplicity of form.
Layering space with screens is a traditional Japanese device, but Kuma
imbues it with an inventive spirit by choreographing a sequence of entry
rooms divided by veil-like walls of remarkable materials.
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 8/16
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 9/16
Other features in the building
Fusuma doors:
Fusuma doors are vertical rectangular panels that can slide from side to side
to redefine spaces within a room, or act as doors. They typically measure
about 90 cm (3 feet) wide by 180 cm (5.9 feet) tall, the same size as a tatami
mat. They are about two or three centimeters thick.
The height has increased in recent years due to an increase in the average
height of the Japanese population, and 190 cm height is now common.
They consist of a lattice-like wooden understructure covered in cardboard and
a layer of paper or cloth on both sides. They typically have a black lacquer
border and a round finger catch.
Tatami:
A tatami is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-
style rooms. Traditionally made of rice straw to form the core, with a covering
of woven soft rush (igusa ) straw, tatami are made in standard sizes, with the
length exactly twice the width. In the Muromachi period, tatami gradually
came to be spread over whole rooms, beginning with small rooms. Rooms
completely spread with tatami came to be known as zashiki (lit. room spread
out for sitting), and rules concerning seating and etiquette determined the
arrangement of the tatami in the rooms. It is said that prior to the mid-16th
century, the ruling nobility and samurai slept on tatami or woven mats called
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 10/16
goza , while commoners used straw mats or loose straw for bedding. Tatami
were gradually popularized and finally reached the homes of commoners.
The size of tatami differs between different regions in Japan. In the Kyoto
area, tatami generally measure .955m by 1.91m. Tatami of this size are
referred to as Ky ma ō tatami. Tatami in the Nagoya region generally measure .
91m by 1.82m, and are referred to as ainoma (lit., "in-between" size) tatami.
In the region around Tokyo, tatami generally measure .88m by 1.76m. Tatami
of this size are referred to as Edoma or Kant ma ō tatami. In terms of thickness,
5.5cm is average for a Ky ma ō tatami, while 6.0cm is the norm for a Kant ma ō
tatami. A half mat is called a hanj ō , and a mat of three-quarter length, which is
used in tea-ceremony rooms (chashitsu), is called daimedatami.
One possible layout of a 4½ mat room
In Japan, the size of a room is typically measured by the number of tatami
mats. Tatami in the Nagoya region are based on the English measurement
system. The metric measurement .91 m by 1.82 m is about 2 11.83 by′ ″
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 11/16
5 11.65 , which can be rounded to 3′ ″ ft × 6 ft. Some common room sizes are
(in the Nagoya region):
4½ mats = 2.73 m × 2.73 m 9≈ ft × 9 ft
6 mats = 2.73 m × 3.64 m 9≈ ft × 12 ft
8 mats = 3.64 m × 3.64 m 12≈ ft × 12 ft
Shops were traditionally designed to be 5½ mats, and tea rooms are
frequently 4½ mats. There are rules concerning the number of tatami mats
and the layout of the tatami mats in a room. In the Edo period, "auspicious"
tatami arrangements and "inauspicious" tatami arrangements were distinctly
differentiated, and the tatami accordingly would be rearranged depending on
the occasion. Nowadays, the "auspicious" layout is ordinarily used. In this
arrangement, the junctions of the tatami form a "T" shape; in the
"inauspicious" arrangement, the tatami are in a grid pattern wherein the
junctions form a + shape.
An inauspicious layout is said to bring bad fortune. In homes, the mats must
not be laid in a grid pattern, and in any layout there is never a point where the
corners of four mats touch.
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 12/16
Typical layout of a 4½ mat tea room in the cold season, when the hearth built
into the floor is in use. The room has a tokonoma and mizuya d kō ō.
Dalle de Verre:
Dalle de Verre, also referred to as Faceted Glass, has been used in the
United States since it was first introduced in 1955. Even though it uses hand
blown colored glass, it is a much different medium than traditional leaded
glass. The one inch thick glass slabs are cut to shape and held together with
an epoxy resin. The overall designs are usually mosaic in style. The cut glass
is chipped (which produces facets) to add brilliance and depth to the colors.
The resins are colored and textured to give a mortared appearance.
When created properly, these units are very strong and offer outside
applications that traditional stained glass cannot.
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 13/16
The story behind this onsen:
Since 1991, San Francisco-native Jeanie Fuji has acted as the traditional
Japanese okami (land lady or female inn keeper) of the Fujiya Ryokan
(traditional wooden inn) in the Ginzan Onsen (hot springs) area.
That year, she married Fuji Atsushi, the son and heir of the 350-year-old inn
and started her rigorous training under her mother-in-law in the art of serving
customers, true Japanese style. This included preparing all meals, washing
the dishes and cleaning all rooms. The goal was to make sure every need of
every customer was anticipated and met following the age-old inn tradition of
providing the right amount of service at the right time.
Fuji describes the types of things she had to learn. “Sliding a fusuma door
open and shut, greeting guests, bringing them meals on small o-zen tables...
everything has to be done a certain way, following the old traditions. And I had
to learn how to talk with the guests using polite, formal Japanese. I often
wanted to give up and go home to the United States. But now I love my work
here,” she says in a Japanese publication.
By the time she had a good decade of experience behind her, Fuji had gained
a celebrity okami status that she modestly and reluctantly dismisses. By 2004,
she and her husband hired Tokyo-based celebrity architect Kengo Kuma to
raise the personal service of the inn to even higher level. Kuma overtook a
complete remodelling of the inn that reopened in July 2006. Kuma is behind
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 14/16
many well-known buildings, including the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey
headquarters in Tokyo.
The capacity of the thoroughly wooden, three-story Fujiya Inn was reduced to
only eight rooms with full capacity at 16 persons. Considering the location of
the inn, right in the middle of a relatively remote rural area known for its hot
springs and natural beauty, the level of luxury in the inn is astonishing.
Kuma has been able to combine traditional Japanese simplicity with
international tastes and needs, yet avoided the dumbed-down, westernized
version of Japanese style. In fact, Fuji has written an autobiography on this
subject Nipponjin ni wa, Nihon ga Tarinai (Japanese people are not Japanese
enough), in which she emphasizes that it is important for modern Japanese to
recognize and re-claim the value of their own millennia-old customs and
history.At Fujiya Inn, you feel that you are part of an ancient, authentic and
almost organic history that seems to be seeping through every seam and
screen here. Many aspects contribute to this effect. One is Kuma’s brilliant
use of layers, screens as thin as veils, to both hide and reveal space. The
omnipresent samushiko bamboo screens by craft master Hideo Nakata (no,
he�s not the horror-movie director) and his son required 1.2 million four-
millimetre-wide strips of bamboo. Green stained-glass panes by Masato Shida
and the prolific use of the handmade, richly textured Echizen Japanese paper
add to the feeling of lightness and transparency.
The organic, natural quotient of the inn is also boosted by the baths and the
hand-prepared, fresh food. The inn has five beautiful private hot springs baths
including an open-air bath on the top floor. The food is based on a regular
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 15/16
washoku (Japanese cuisine) menu and features many edible plants and other
local ingredients. Fujiï’s favourites include the sansai, mountain vegetables,
including kogomi (ostrich fern fiddleheads) and urui (plantain lily petioles.) The
only exception to this local-only rule is Cafe Wisteria (English for fuji), open
only in the summer months, and offering international coffees and cakes.
To get to the Fujiya Inn, take the 3.5-hour trip on the Yamagata Bullet Train
(Shinkansen) from Tokyo and then get a bus to the hot springs. Or fly from
Tokyo to the Yamagata airport and arrange for a pick up by the inn.1
1 http://www.thecoolhunter.net/article/detail/1173/fujiya-ginzan-tokyo
8/2/2019 Kenzo Kuma Research
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenzo-kuma-research 16/16
Context Information
Ginzan Onsen : It is an onsen area in Obanazawa, Yamagata Prefecture,
Japan. It’s name means ‘Silver Mountain’.
Onsen: An onsen is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though
the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the
hot springs. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen
scattered along its length and breadth. Onsen were traditionally used as
public bathing places and today play a central role in directing Japanese
domestic tourism.
(Prefectures are governmental bodies larger than cities, towns, and villages.)