In this Current Work lecture, titled “Between Nature and Architecture,” Fujimoto presents three early conceptual works and six recent projects. The early unbuilt projects, conceived following his graduation from the University of Tokyo in 1994, illustrate the formation of principles that have carried through to today, including the abandonment of solid walls and the design of spaces without a fixed function.

Sou Fujimoto Conference Technical Data

I started the quest to create a new living environment, which would be neither architecture nor nature but the integration of both.

– Sou Fujimoto1

Between Nature and Architecture Conference

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 conference, “Between Nature and Architecture,” Fujimoto explains how he finds inspiration in the traditional Japanese engawa, a narrow veranda that serves as a 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): A space 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 sizes and placement

These projects represent how Sou Fujimoto Architects translates uniform systems — such as a grid of steel tubes, 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.

  1. Sou Fujimoto Architecture Works 1995-2015

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