About Kengo Kuma
Kengo Kuma creates aquatic center design in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Project foresees construction with pyramids and pools with infinity edge.
Combining the fluidity of water with the rigidity of a building is not a simple task, but it was the mission very well accomplished by Kengo Kuma & Associates, an office known for blending architecture and nature - and whose expertise has just beaten the competition for construction of the Water Front Cultural Center, a center dedicated to sports and water, which should soon figure in the Danish landscape.
Concurring with other big names in architecture, such as BIG, 3XN Architects, AART Archtitects + Cube Arkitekter and ALA Architects + Studio Octopi, the aquatic center design project provides for the construction of pyramids that connect land and water, is on the seashore in Copenhagen and seeks to celebrate the water through its different forms: vapor, flow and reflection of light.
With conical shapes that project both outside and inside, and have skylights at the top, the design predicts that the center not only has many pools, but that the internal tanks accompany the scale of the corresponding pyramid, while the outdoor pool, connect the buildings.
The shapes of the pyramid were a strategic choice of Kengo Kuma and Associates, who wanted to work from the project of Christianholm Island, where the center will remain, without completely imitating it. One of the differences, for example, is that the Water Front Culture House will have several facades and can be accessed in several directions.
Another solution that calls attention was the use of the location of the aquatic center. The Japanese office takes advantage of the corner of the land and provides for the construction of pools with infinity edges that intensify the frank conversation with the environment.
About Kengo Kuma
Kengo Kuma was born in 1954. Before establishing Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990, he received his Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Tokyo, where he is currently a Professor of Architecture. Having been inspired by Kenzo Tange’s Yoyogi National Gymnasium, built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Kengo Kuma decided to pursue architecture at a young age, and later entered the Architecture program at the University of Tokyo, where he studied under Hiroshi Hara and Yoshichika Uchida. During his Graduate studies, he made a research trip across the Sahara, exploring various villages and settlements, observing a unique power and beauty. After his time as a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in New York, he established his office in Tokyo. Since then, Kengo Kuma & Associates has designed architectural works in over twenty countries and received prestigious awards, including the Architectural Institute of Japan Award, the Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award (Finland), and the International Stone Architecture Award (Italy), among others. Kengo Kuma & Associates aims to design architecture which naturally merges with its cultural and environmental surroundings, proposing gentle, human scaled buildings. The office is constantly in search of new materials to replace concrete and steel, and seeks a new approach for architecture in a post-industrial society.
Office in Tokyo
Address: 107-0062 Tokyo (Japan), Minato-ku Minamiaoyama 2-24-8
Phone: +81 3 3401 7721 (By-Cube 3F)
+81 3 3401 7726 (By-Cube 2F)
+81 3 5413 8703 (Aoyama-Tower 6F)
+81 3 5772 5158 (Aoyama-Tower 8F)
+81 3 5771 3022 (Aoyama-Tower 12F)
Fax: +81 3 3401 7778
Email: kuma@ba2.so-net.ne.jp
Office in Paris
Address: 104 rue Oberkampf, F-75011 Paris France
Phone: +33 1 4488 9490
Fax: +33 9 5688 9490
Email: kuma@kkaa.co.jp
Website: http://kkaa.co.jp/
Links
Archdaily https://www.archdaily.com/886989/kengo-kuma-and-associates-reveal-plans-for-new-aquatics-centre-on-copenhagens-waterfront
Dezeen https://www.dezeen.com/2018/04/12/kengo-kuma-aquatics-centre-swimming-pool-water-culture-house-copenhagen/
Danish Design Review http://danishdesignreview.com/kbhnotes/2018/4/12/kengo-kuma-to-design-the-new-aquatic-centre-in-copenhagen
The Spaces https://thespaces.com/2018/04/12/kengo-kuma-is-building-a-pyramid-like-aquatic-centre-on-copenhagens-paper-island/
Inhabitat https://inhabitat.com/kengo-kumas-competition-winning-aquatic-center-connects-land-and-sea-in-copenhagen/
Aquatic Center Design in Copenhagen, Denmark