Sou Fujimoto: Between Nature and Architecture

Recorded: April 15, 2014

Sou Fujimoto established his Tokyo-based firm in 2000. His practice seeks to challenge the definition of architecture by blending interior and exterior, structure and furniture, natural landscape and architecture. Based primarily in his home country of Japan, Fujimoto draws architectural inspiration from nature and embraces openness, flexibility, and transparency across his work.

In this Current Work lecture, titled “Between Nature and Architecture,” Fujimoto presents three conceptual early works and six recent projects. The early unbuilt projects, conceived of following his graduation from the University of Tokyo in 1994, illustrate the formation of principles that have carried through to today, including abandonment of solid walls and the design of spaces without fixed function. Finding inspiration in the traditional Japanese engawa, a narrow veranda that serves as passageway between house and garden, Fujimoto translates these “ambiguous, in-between spaces” into his contemporary buildings.

The six completed and current projects he discusses are:

The Serpentine Pavilion 2013 (London), a cloud-like temporary structure built for the Serpentine Gallery’s annual series
House NA (Tokyo), a small, transparent house composed of many individual floor plates at varied heights

Toilet in Nature (Ichihara, Chiba, Japan), a public toilet situated in a landscaped garden

House N (Oita, Japan), a private house built as a “box in a box in a box” with large openings to the outdoors

Musashino Art University Library (Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan), entirely composed of bookshelves to create the impression of an endless library

L’Arbre Blanc (Montpellier, France), a high-rise apartment building with large balconies of varied size and placement

These projects represent how Sou Fujimoto Architects translates uniform systems — such as a grid of steel tube, 3.5 by 1.5 meter floor plates, or repeating bookshelves — into structures that eliminate traditional divisions between indoor and outdoor and challenge perceptions of space and form.

The Current Work series invites significant international figures who powerfully influence contemporary architectural practice and shape the future of the built environment to present their work and ideas to a public audience.