A Study on Kengo Kumas Architecture of Anti-Object: Based on Martin Heideggers Notion of Thing

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the study of Kengo Kumas architecture of anti-object which is based on Martin Heideggers notion of things. Kuma has always been perturbed by how contemporary architecture is being built separated from the surroundings and thus establish itself as distinct objects. People are now inclined to understand architecture as a separated object instead of something that is part of the nature.

The situation became more serious with the concrete method which dominated the world of architecture since the 20th century up until today. According to Kuma, the architecture as an edifice object is divided its relationship with the environment. This problem was further aggravated with the encouragement of formalism.

Kumas idea of eliminating the object from the surrounding as the method allowed him to achieve his notion of anti-object. The Kiro-san Observatory located at Ehime Prefecture built in 1991 is the first project in which he literally erased the architecture by burying the whole building into the hill. He claims that the observatory is a void as compare to the idea of form taken by conventional architecture as an object.

Kuma developed the idea of anti-object by designing the building in smaller elements in order to reduce its bulkiness. In Kuma terms, he defined this technique as particlizing architecture. The idea of particlizing is not limited only to architectural elements but also as a philosophy in which he asserted that through particulating, we can avoid the dominance of a certain matter against others. This has led him to delve into the varieties of building materials to subdue the dominance of the concrete method.

However, his enthusiasm with building materials led him to the objectifying of the architecture instead of anti-object. According to Martin Heidegger, a German Philosopher, the more we attempt to explore the traits of something, the further we stay away from the essences of that particular thing. The thingness of the thing is only reveals to us if we set it back to its original essence—its thing-being.

This study adopts the philosophy of Martin Heidegger in his phenomenology of thingness as the reference to discuss Kengo Kumas architecture of anti-object. According to Heidegger, the prevailing way of thinking in the West sees thing as a mere and separated object. Because of this, the direct human experience with the thing had been neglected. The notion of object is inadequate for Heidegger, too abstract, pretentious and detached from the daily experiences, and this is what the scientific world perspective propagandizes.

Kuma attempts to eliminate and reduce the massiveness of the object to reinstate the relationship between architecture and the natural environment. However, according to Heidegger, the thing and the natural world are in an interdependent relationship situation. In other words, architecture is a thing that reinstates the relationship between human beings and the natural world, by its appearance as a thing instead as a distinct object. Therefore, the relationship was reinstated through the appearance of thing instead through its status of distinct object.

A deeper understanding and discussion on Kumas architecture of anti-bject is provided in this study. The study also includes Kumas selected projects that have been built during 1990 to 2000 to provide an understanding of how his strategies of anti-object developed over the course of his career.