Studio Details

Location
Tokyo, Japan

Date
14 July-25 July, 2025

Studio Directors in Tokyo
Kengo Kuma (Founder, Kengo Kuma and Associates)
Rita Topa (Partner, Kengo Kuma and Associates)
Andrea Toccolini (Chief Project Director, Kengo Kuma and Associates)
Hirotaka Mashiko (Chief Project Director, Kengo Kuma and Associates)

Studio Project
Reimagining the Urban Village in Sangenjaya (Urban regeneration and Mix-use development)

Field Trips and Site Visits
The Kengo Kuma and Associates office, Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo
Sunny Hills, Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo
Asakusa Culture and Tourism Centre, Asakusa, Tokyo
Zuisho-ji Temple, Shirokanedai, Tokyo

Studio Project

Soft City

This studio explores how the idea of the “village” can be reinterpreted within Tokyo’s evolving urban landscape to support new forms of collective life. Students will investigate how architecture can foster meaningful connections between elderly residents, younger generations, and new foreign residents through the design of spaces that extend the role of housing into the public realm.
The project type is open, ranging from housing and mixed-use development to urban regeneration and public space strategies. Proposals may take the form of vertical neighborhoods, horizontal systems, or hybrid typologies—but all will be grounded in principles of biophilic design, soft boundaries, and the thoughtful use of natural materials.
Students will explore how everyday social spaces—such as izakaya, sentō, neighborhood shops, and new typologies yet to emerge—can evolve into meaningful community anchors for the next century. The studio encourages thinking beyond conventional program, imagining architectures that act as connective tissue between people, cultures, and generations. Inspired by Kengo Kuma’s sensitivity to materiality and context, the studio promotes porous, nature-infused design as a catalyst for social resilience and urban wellbeing.

Soft City asks: How can architecture foster belonging, mutual care, and shared experience in everyday life? How can buildings soften the transitions between home and street, public and private, digital and physical, solitude and encounter?

Kengo Kuma was born in 1954. He established Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990. He is currently a University Professor and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo and a member of the Japan Art Academy after teaching at Keio University and the University of Tokyo. KKAA projects are currently underway in more than 50 countries. Kengo Kuma proposes architecture that opens up new relationships between nature, technology, and human beings. His major publications include Kengo Kuma Onomatopoeia Architecture Grounding (X-Knowledge), Nihon no Kenchiku (Architecture of Japan, Iwanami Shoten), Zen Shigoto (Kengo Kuma – the complete works, Daiwa Shobo), Ten Sen Men (Point Line Plane, Iwanami Shoten), Makeru Kenchiku (Architecture of Defeat, Iwanami Shoten), Shizen na Kenchiku (Natural Architecture, Iwanami Shinsho), Chii-sana Kenchiku (Small Architecture, Iwanami Shinsho) and many others.

|| Tokyo, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul || Web link || Instagram link ||

Internships

Students accepted into the Kengo Kuma and Associates Studio at Venice Studio may be considered for available internship or job opportunities at Kengo Kuma and Associates. Selection of candidates is at the sole discretion of the studio directors and Kengo Kuma and Associates. Places are not guaranteed.

Program Information