Kengo Kuma : Onomatopoeia Architecture at Athens
I often think about the dialog between the human and the material. Architecture should be placed in this special dialog. But in fact, today’s architecture destroys richness, and the human is left isolated from the earth as the bountiful place where the various materials gather. In this exhibition at the Old State Tobacco Factory in Athens, I would like to show how I create a dialog with materials.
I am drawn to the dialog with soft materials: softness always heals me as it reminds me of my mother. In this dialog, I don’t often use a language influenced by logic. And when I use it, it is impossible to make people understand me. That is why I always use onomatopoeia. The material and the body are talking to each other and they resonate when using this primitive language.
Onomatopoeia does not treat architecture as the subject of operations by higher-ranking actors (architects) but treats architecture and humans in the same line. Architects are not the top of architecture but walk around the architecture with users. Onomatopoeia is such a kind of animal-like voice that is emitted at a physical and experiential level.
Kengo Kuma
