As his first UK building nears completion, acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma will speak about architecture and identity, exploring the relationship between place, building tradition and landscape. Opening in September, The V&A Dundee is set to redefine the identity of the city and build upon its status as a UNESCO City of Design. Kuma will discuss his work in cities around the world, including London and Tokyo, where his National Stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is under construction.
Kengo Kuma on architecture and identity
Public lecture hosted by London School of Architecture and LSE Cities in partnership with The Japan Foundation
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Profiles
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. 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.
Ricky Burdett
Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics (LSE), and director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age project. He is a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, and was chief advisor on Architecture and Urbanism for the London 2012 Olympics and architectural advisor to the Mayor of London from 2001 to 2006. He was director of the International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2006. With Deyan Sudjic he is co-editor of The Endless City (2007) and Living in the Endless City (2011) and, with Philipp Rode Shaping Cities in an Urban Age (2018).
Will Hunter
Will is the Founder of the London School of Architecture, and is currently the school’s Director. He was previously the executive editor of The Architectural Review and editor of the monthly magazines of The Architects’ Journal and Building Design. He has contributed to many titles including Wallpaper*, Blueprint and the Financial Times. Trained as an architect at the Bartlett, UCL, and at the Royal College of Art, he has taught architecture at both London Metropolitan University and the RCA, at the latter as a design unit master and chair of the architecture school’s public lecture programme.