POWER OF PLACE
Event details
| Date | 06.12.2013 |
| Hour | 18:00 |
| Speaker | Kengo Kuma, architect, Tokyo and Paris |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Natural disasters have always directed the course of our civilizations, but the great disaster of March 11, 2011 in Japan differed from any other catastrophes since the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake. Nature was desperately forceful as never before. However “strong” or “rational” the structures built to contain it were, the tsunami flattened the Tohoku coastline in seconds. The nuclear accident that followed further revealed the inabilities of “big and strong” architecture. Confronted with radiation, concrete or steel meant nothing – the irony being that nuclear energy had emerged as part of our drive, since the Lisbon tragedy, to become bigger, stronger, and more efficient.
Now that such a process has collapsed on itself, we have to start from scratch. Even before 3/11, I was already fed up with massive concrete and steel buildings, and had begun to design a number of small works of architecture. You can build these projects on your own, with nearby materials, and be totally independent from strong powers – or rather, dependent solely on nature, and on the power of place. I sense that the whole world is now shifting toward small things. We are no longer passive creatures spoon-fed from a giant yet unreliable system. Each individual starts by building a nest for her- or himself, amassing energy on her or his own and taking advantage of their locality. A new relationship is being formed between people and place.
Now that such a process has collapsed on itself, we have to start from scratch. Even before 3/11, I was already fed up with massive concrete and steel buildings, and had begun to design a number of small works of architecture. You can build these projects on your own, with nearby materials, and be totally independent from strong powers – or rather, dependent solely on nature, and on the power of place. I sense that the whole world is now shifting toward small things. We are no longer passive creatures spoon-fed from a giant yet unreliable system. Each individual starts by building a nest for her- or himself, amassing energy on her or his own and taking advantage of their locality. A new relationship is being formed between people and place.
Links
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Archizoom, in partnership with UPIAV