THE MAKING OF NATURALNESS THROUGH KIGUMI ARCHITECTURE
Jun Sato
Sunny Hills in Aoyama Tokyo is a pineapple cake shop jointly designed and developed by Kengo Kuma
and Jun Sato. Its structure is based on the centuries-old Japanese wood craft of Kigumi, a timber framework whose elements
interlock like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
The complex building composed of thousands of slender
wooden slats required only a minimum of steel fasteners. Its differentiated structure acts like an “environmental filter”
that creates a Komorebi effect (sunlight through leaves) in the interior.
Jun Sato is a renowned Japanese structural
engineer who runs an office in Tokyo and has worked with architects such as Kengo Kuma, Sou Fujimoto, Junya Ishigami, Kazuhiro
Kojima and others. He was a visiting professor at Stanford University and has taught at the University of Tokyo focusing on
the development of “morphogenetic forms based on geometry, materials, dynamics, craftsmanship, site matters and the spirit
of engineering.” He will talk about the design and planning process of Sunny Hills and other buildings that he and Kengo Kuma
have developed to explore the Kigumi technique, as well as timber joinery and structural optimization in general.