#37 December 29, 2020
The number one positive outcome this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic was the starting of global meetings via zoom by all of the over 300 members of our organization. These meetings which connect our Tokyo office, Paris office, Beijing office, Shanghai office and at times live images of staff members working at construction sites are held for 30 minutes in the early evening every Wednesday, and enable all of our staff to reaffirm their connection between one another. The meetings were also great opportunities for us to know how the people in Paris, Beijing and Shanghai were fighting against coronavirus respectively and leading their life, as they gave us a totally different perspective about the situation from the news we get in general.
The increase in remote meetings brought me into a clearer view that our Tokyo office has disjointed, and a dispersed style of working which will replace the style of working in large offices (boxes).
Since many of our job sites are in the countryside, this led me to the realization that we could have an office configuration that consists of a collection of satellite offices on the Cloud from the respective job sites. This has the potential to create a grassroots Cloud-like lab in which various craftspeople around the world are directly and closely connected with the people of the world.
On the other hand, it is difficult to give up on the notion of having meetings where you see each other face to face based on the physical model. Therefore, I also realized anew that this type of communication is one of the distinctive qualities of the Kuma organization. Next year, I would like to continue various efforts and attempts to strike a balance between these two styles of communication which at a glance appear to be the opposite of each other.
ProjectsTaketa History and Culture Museum
This museum is located in the castletown of Taketa which is famous for its impregnable Bungo Okajo Castle. Rentaro Taki who was born in Taketa composed the folk song entitled “Kojo No Tsuki” based on the theme of Okajo Castle. Situated along a water channel, this museum is designed to look like a long fence by combining the elements of a white building wall and bamboo lattice. The smoked bamboo lattice is extended inside the museum, where the history of this castletown and works of art by the literarti painter Chikuden Tanomura who is from the Oka Domain (clan) are on display. The “historical Chikuden-sou” (former residence of Chikuden Tanomura) situated on a slope behind the museum is connected by an elevator which is covered by a lattice, creating a design that exudes history into the entire town. Read MoreProjectsmorinos
This is a facility for education programs to teach the multifaceted functions of forests. Workshops are repeatedly held with students of the academy under the lean-to roof with a large overhang which is supported by logs cut down from the forest in a V-shaped configuration, creating a very open space. One-hundred year old Japanese cypress logs in the research forest adjoining the academy were cut down by students majoring in Forestry studies, and used in combination with cedar planks that still have the bark on for the doorjambs and mullion for the openings. Therefore, the materials themselves are used in the design to teach forestry education. Earth from the site and earth from Gifu Prefecture were applied to the symbolic walls by Syuhei Hasado, a plasterer from the prefecture, in a process that resembles a 12-layered ceremonial kimono. Read More