KENGO KUMA: STEAKHOUSE OMI, KYOTO

Photo courtesy Kengo Kuma and Associates.

ESPAÑOL

As he did in his acclaimed Suntory Art Museum , Kengo Kuma was once again able to propose modern architecture but using the subtle minimalism of the traditional Japanese architecture for the Steakhouse Omi, a small restaurant located at the Kyoto International Hotel (Kyoto Kokusai Hotel) . It is not a cold, insensitive minimalism , but, despite its simplicity, it manages to convey a friendly atmosphere based on textures, lighting and integration into the neighbor garden.

LOCATION

The Kyoto Kokusai Hotel is located in front of the Nijo Castle in Kyoto. The hotel is arranged around a central garden of square proportions. A couple of restaurants face the garden and each other, one of them is the Omi Steakhouse designed by Kuma.

See location in Google Maps

CONCEPT

In addition to being integrated into the hotel lobby, the restaurant has a direct and independent access from the street. Kuma defined it by a fence of bamboo and straw evoking the traditional shiba-gaki , accompanied by a leaning screen composed of thin wooden rods. This panel, which sits on a bed of gravel stone, provides a transition between transparency and opacity.

Views from the street access.

Views of the access from the lobby, to which the restaurant is separated by another semi-transparent screen.

Once inside the restaurant, preceded by a separated by a genkan or lobby where footwear is removed, the first thing that impresses the visitor is the full visual integration with the garden, through a longitudinal window. The columns supporting the structure of the hotel, have been covered by mirrors, thus visually multiplying the vegetation of the garden.

A reception separates the eating area, which is not visible until one approaches at it.

The concept is pretty simple, but it is still impressive. It is a square dinning room, which ​​almost completely surrounds the cooking area. Only a small door communicates the latter with the kitchen .

The dinning area has been elevated to the clients sit on the tatami floor, as mandated by the etiquette in Japan, but at the same time they are able to stretch their legs. A grill bar, where the meat is fried, surrounds the cooking area, right in front of the diners.

Photo courtesy Kengo Kuma and Associates.

Here the architect uses a volume attached to the ceiling to accommodate smoke extractors, whose surface has been coated with a metallic finish that recalls the wabi sabi or art of things unfinished.

The lighting, subtle but carefully located, focuses both on a paper wall and at the junction of ceiling and the walls. The dim lighting produces various types of shades, which afford intimate drama and lightness to the room.

The ceiling is covered by a slatted frame that is characteristic of the architect's work, and that extends into the garden, emphasizing the integration between the inside and the outside, between the artificial and the natural.


THE GARDEN


DETAILS


In my opinion, Kengo Kuma is currently one of the architects that best combine modernity with tradition in Japanese architecture.

SEE ALSO:
- OTHER WORKS by Kengo Kuma

• Shinonome Canal Court, Tokyo, Japan. With Toyo Ito and others (2004)
• Suntory Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan. (2004-07)

- HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS

• Burj Al Arab, Dubai, UAE (Thomas Wright)
• Colca Lodge, Colca Valley, Peru. Alvaro Pastor.

For travelers who are Kyoto for a few days and want to visit this restaurant but have a somewhat limited budget, I recommend going for lunch, since dinner here can be very expensive.

TOYO ITO, KENGO KUMA, ETC: SHINONOME CANAL COURT

Photo courtesy of Nacas & Partners .

ESPAÑOL

Shinonome Canal Court is a remarkable experimental multifamily housing project in Tokyo, aimed at revitalizing the role of housing in the XXI century society, and at the same time renewing the Japanese capital's waterfront. To this end, the project featured the participation of renowned architects such as Kengo Kuma , Toyo Ito among others.

OVERVIEW
The participation of notable architects in the design of residential complexes has not been very common in Japan in recent years, as they have been in the hands of government bureaucrats who merely repeated low quality housing prototypes throughout the country with many social, functional and aesthetic shortcomings.

In fact, since Nexus World in Fukuoka in 1991 there had not been another case of experimental multi-family housing designed by a group of famous architects. However, unlike the Nexus (where the plan by Arata Isozaki lacked a strong idea that linked the various buildings and where each architect designed his unit with no relation to the others and in the style that he thought best), in the case of Shinonome the residential blocks are linked by a clear urban design and maintain a homogeneous formal language despite their differences.

The main idea is based on a type of housing that is flexible enough to accommodate small offices and home offices ( SOHOs) and thus include economic activities (which are often absent in many residential complexes) to improve the social relations of its inhabitants as well as adjusting to their current lifestyles. The complex should be flexible enough to accommodate family units, housing for singles or for the elderly.

To this end, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC - CODAN) held a competition in which 6 teams were: Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop (Block 1), Toyo Ito & Assoc. (Block 2), Kengo Kuma & Assoc. (Block 3), Yama Architects (Block 4), ADH Architects & Workstation (Block 5), Akoto Motokura, Keisuke Yamamoto and Keiji Hori (Block 6). The landscape of public spaces was in charge of the ON-SITE office.


LOCATION
Shinonome is located on an area reclaimed from the sea, in Tokyo Bay. Despite being away from the bustle of the capital, this area enjoys very good connection with the heart of Tokyo. It is possible to reach the Ginza commercial district and the Imperial Palace in about an hour walking or 10 minutes by train.

See location on Google Maps

The complex consists of six blocks around a central space, arranged in a rectangular block of 16.4 hectares, and surrounded by high density towers. It is possible to see and have contact with a waterway nearby.


CONCEPT
The projected 2000 units are allocated in 6 blocks of up to 14 levels. They are linked by a winding main street that connects at its ends a supermarket and a riverside park, and links to shops, services, a kindergarten, playgrounds, etc.


At the same time it relates to public areas and terraces located in both the first and the second level.

Sequence of the central street

Through these public spaces located in buildings is possible to establish a network of social relations among the inhabitants. In other words, the architects proposed a scheme opposite to Kisho Kurokawa and his idea that people should live in capsules, but rather break the limits of individuality and promote the socialization of housing at levels rarely seen in Japan.


How to achieve this? Through transparency, used as a premise in the projects. The facades are hollowed to accommodate common areas where the level of privacy can be adjusted with movable wood panels, decorated with colored stripped lines.


Many of the units have fully glazed doors and face spaces that allow interaction with their neighbors. This may look awkward for a traditional house, but not for a small office, home office or SOHO, establishing a transitional space between public and private areas.


An unusual aspect is that the houses are at the same level of the corridors, allowing them to be used with or without shoes (traditionally houses are located one step above the public circulation, and they are provided with a small space to leave the shoes before entering the apartment).

Spaces entry to homes by Riken Yamamoto.

Photo courtesy of Nacas & Partners .

Plant the second level of blocks designed by Toyo Ito.

Image courtesy of Total Housing

Blocks designed by Riken Yamamoto, organized along a central passage, but with the use of glass doors more light is allowed in each of the units.

Kengo Kuma's proposal, for example, links main units of 60 m2 to 25 m2 attached units (which can be used as bedrooms, studies, offices, etc..). These units are arranged around a central atrium.

Kuma also incorporates roof gardens, a gesture that evokes Le Corbusier's Unités d'habitation, but that adds an economic value: they can be used to grow vegetables. Every few homes a communal space is generated and the architect proposes a network of bridges that allows communication between the units.


In the case of Yamamoto's project, he proposed a "room-F" or foyer, which can be used as working area and can be accessed directly from passages located eccentrically.

Inside a Small Office / Home Office (SOHO). Photo courtesy of Nacas & Partners .

Riken Yamamoto. Variations of the type of residence to suit the conditions and lifestyles of each family. Bathrooms and kitchens are located towards the back of the apartments, receiving good insolation, while social areas are arranged directly at the entrance area.

***

Although the project was completed in 2004 and is a bit early to decide whether a is successful, it is possible to distinguish a higher level of social activity than in other residential complexes in Japan, and definitely will contribute to the discussion on the issue of multifamily housing in our time.

SEE ALSO:
- Multifamily housing

• Nagakin Capsule Tower, Tokyo, Japan. Kisho Kurokawa.
• Nexus World, Fukuoka, Japan. (Koolhaas, Portzamparc, etc)
• Unité d'Habitation, Berlin, Germany. Le Corbusier

Children playing in the nursery.