Kuma believes architecture can contribute to solving Japan’s rural problems. “Staff members and I try to visit small or rural areas as often as possible, and meet with local people who are energetic and passionate, eager to revitalize their town,” he says. “We talk and walk a lot, and I try to discover things special about the places that the locals hadn’t paid attention to…. By creating projects for which designers and locals can work together—buildings or events—we are able to open up potential for the future. Whatever its scale, architecture can initiate communication among people.”
And that communication is not limited to the Japanese. His proudest achievement, he says, is the Great Bamboo Wall in Beijing, a “multi-Asian” structure. The building is part of a “commune” of villas in a forest near the Great Wall. The interior of Kuma’s building looks on to the forested hillside.