Topography

by Kengo Kuma & Associates (Images Publishing Group)

In his introduction to Topography, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma recalls that his ‘ key focus throughout the 1990s was on making architecture disappear’, his response to the conspicuous edifices that marked Japan’s 1980s boom. When working on an observatory that would be buried so it ‘could not be seen’, he realised he had actually created topography, something that lasts beyond the term of architecture and for which the architect bears an even higher degree of responsibility.

Kuma goes on to expound on the organising principles of the book, which form its chapters. In Particle, he discusses the use of greenery and natural features that help living creatures orient themselves and relate to their environments; Oblique discusses the type of surfaces that comprise topography; Membrane describes the ‘light, thin and ephemeral’ architecture for which Kuma strives at each site; Perforation is the holes needed to punctuate surfaces, where living creatures and things gather and give life to the topography; and Time provides a framework by which to reconsider the idea of completion in architecture.

Based on these principles, the book showcases close to 40 major projects across Japan, Europe and the US, all illuminated by Kuma’s texts, sketches and over 300 photographs. Kuma’s books are always fascinating, and this is no exception.