Inside the natural-unnatural architecture of Sou Fujimoto
In a sense, Fujimoto’s is the conceptual art of contemporary architecture, born out of a relentless desire to interrogate, in building after building, variations on the same set of ideas. To spend time with him is to dwell in a discursive world constructed entirely of tensely opposing categories — inside and outside, individual and society, private and public, the natural world and the urban environment — out of which emerges this serene, unruffled but somehow dynamic architecture.
Writing in The New York Times' T Magazine, Nikil Saval takes an indepth and nuanced look at the work and trajectory of Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto.
In the thought-provoking profile, Saval works to uncover and convey the dualities that drive Fujimoto's design work, including "Fujimoto’s constant attempts to suggest the natural aspects of architecture, and the architectural aspects of nature, occasionally argue for the predominance of the concept over the requirements of a given site or space."
"If he can be said to have a signature style or idea," Saval writes, "it might be this."
