As an expert on wood, Kengo Kuma demonstrates the unique distinction between wood and paper, a product made from wood. Whereas trees grow larger and stronger by embracing their own dead cells at their core, paper is free from that kind of “solidifying” process. It can remain soft and flexible.
“Softness” is usually considered detrimental to architecture but that can be turned into an advantage for Kuma who pursues “loose wholeness.” Paper is fascinating, says Kuma, because it can exist as liquid as well as solid. The essence of paper making, especially of the traditional Japanese paper (washi), is to bathe the fibers taken from the specific plants such as kozo or mitsumata in the water that is made mildly viscose using plant-based sticky substances called tororo-aoi. The tororo-aoi does not really “bind” fibers to make paper, observes Kuma, but keeps the fibers apart to float randomly so that the product becomes even. The fibers are not glued or fixed – they simply bathe comfortably in the slimy water. Before they know it, as the water evaporates, they become paper. Kuma calls this “elegant” transformation into paper from a liquid state to a solid state as “frozen liquidity.”
Leveraging these characteristics, Kuma has been applying paper even to metal surfaces. By using paper in architecture, Kuma believes we can re-discover our connection to water, one of the fundamental elements in nature that we need.
The Seigaiha
Location: Anywhere
Design: 2005 Construction: 2005
The Paper Snake
Location: Anyang, South Korea
Design: 2014 Construction: 2014
The Paper Brick
Location: Shanghai, China
Design: 2014 Construction: 2014
The Paper Cocoon
Location: Milano, Italy
Design: 2014 Construction: 2015
The Archives Antoni Clave
Location: Paris, France
Design: 2015 Construction: 2017