Architect Kumatichi guides us through the history of architecture in the 2000s

Guide: Kumatachi

Architect Kumatachi says, "I want to experience architecture with as little prior information as possible, with a completely blank mind." He recalled the places he had visited and told us about the scene in the 2000s.

A succession of masterpieces with simple forms were born! A new style that utilizes organic materials continues to this day

Architects in every era have always wanted to "create something that has never been seen before." This was also the case in the 2000s. However, I think there was a major trend. The most prominent example of this is architecture with simple diagrams. A diagram is a diagram that graphically represents the components and relationships of a building. For the purposes of this article, think of it simply as the shape of a building.

By simple, I mean a very simple form, such as a circle or a flat surface. Speaking of circles, a symbolic example would be the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, designed by SANAA (B), a unit consisting of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (A). When viewed from the sky, it looks circular. Another major feature is that it is a "transparent building" made entirely of glass.

Another example of the circular concept taken to the extreme is the Tomihiro Museum of Art, built in Gunma Prefecture in 2005 by Yokomizo Makoto. It is made up of 33 circular rooms of various sizes, and even the exhibition rooms, offices and storage areas that are out of sight of visitors, are circular in every respect.

Speaking of flat surfaces, there's the Yokohama Port Osanbashi International Passenger Terminal, designed by London-based architectural firm FOA. Divided into one basement floor and two above ground floors, the floors are made up of a single large, undulating flat surface. There are no pillars inside, and the way the flat surface is used as architecture has been carefully considered. While the form is simple, the structure that supports it is extremely complex. In fact, the ceiling of the first floor parking lot at Osanbashi is quite intricate.

These are all extremely elaborate buildings, so I envy the money they must have had at the time (laughs). I think the clients were also motivated to seek out attractive architecture.

For example, in the early 2000s, new brand shops appeared one after another in Tokyo. In 2001, Ginza Maison Hermès, made of approximately 15,000 glass blocks, was completed, and in 2003, the sculptural Prada Aoyama store, covered in diamond-shaped glass, was completed. The former was designed by Renzo Piano, and the latter by Herzog & de Meuron.

This isn't something that started in the 2000s, but as we move into modern times, I feel that architecture tends to focus more on the "things" inside rather than the "space" itself. Simply put, the appeal of a "space" without an interior is rarely discussed. In fact, it's difficult to explain, as it's not something that can be clearly captured in a photograph, but is best experienced.

I believe that Nishizawa Ryue's job is to teach us the charm of such "space." The Moriyama Residence is a small apartment complex consisting of 10 buildings, but the buildings themselves are simple white boxes. Their layout and size give the impression of a unique approach to space.

When you walk through the Karuizawa Senju Museum of Art, which was completed in 2011, you feel the expansion of your field of vision and the change in your footsteps, as if you were in nature. I think one of the charms of the space is that it allows you to experience this sensation using only minimalist elements such as concrete, glass, and steel.

The 2000s could also be said to have prepared the way for the 2010s. People who had done impressive work in Japan, such as Toyo Ito and SANAA, began to work overseas more frequently. Glass-walled "transparent architecture," such as Ito's Sendai Mediatheque and the aforementioned 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, spread throughout the world.

Additionally, architecture that makes use of organic materials such as wood, such as the Nakagawa-machi Batou Hiroshige Museum of Art, designed by Kengo Kuma and completed in 2000, has become a popular style, especially since the 2010s. Looking around the world, there are precedents, such as resort architecture typified by Geoffrey Bawa. However, what is distinctive is that it has been developed in a way that fits the context of Japanese architecture.

The wave of diagrammatic and organic architecture in Japanese architecture began in the 2000s. These two trends, while maintaining a distance from each other and sometimes intersecting, are likely to continue as major trends for some time to come.