The Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Cracow, Poland, is holding an exhibition titled “Kengo Kuma, Experimenting with Materials”, which features a selection of Kengo Kuma & Associates projects, mock-ups, and installations shipped from the firm's office in Tokyo, along with a large "cloud-like" wooden pavilion designed by the architecture office and the Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts of the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University. The exhibition is open to visitors until May 2022.
Designed by Kengo Kuma, Marcin Sapeta, Hossam Hesham, and Tomohiro Matsunaga, "The Cloud" pavilion is inspired by traditional Polish and Japanese wooden architecture. It is designed on the basis of an "individual interpretation of traditional carpentry connections" with slanted locks and dovetail joints connections. The pavilion's composition is based on two groups of long and short timber elements, connected with 45-degree diagonal locks.
In addition to the displayed projects, a video-sound installation created by Japanese photographer Takimoto Mikiya is exhibited. The exihibition is curated by Krzysztof Ingarden from the Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts at the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University and Marcin Sapeta of Kengo Kuma & Associates, in collaboration with The Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Kraków University, as well as professors Krzysztof Ingarden and Artur Jasiński.
Earlier this year, Kengo Kuma & Associates was among 8 internationally-renowned architects invited to design birdhouses that highlight the relationship between contemporary architecture and nature in Rennes, France. "Dancing Forest", which is the name of the firm's installation, comes as a response to "the role of architecture, which is to integrate these elements to bring us closer to nature and facilitate its and facilitate its perception". The architect also explored the traditional Japanese technique called "Yakisugi" (burnt cedar) as it protects and sustains the wood by burning its surface instead of treating it chemically.
