© Ingo Rasp
The therme Suite room project designed by Kengo Kuma in 2015 is a penthouse restoration on top of the Vals Therme Hotel in Switzerland using local materials.
Therme Suite Room Vals Technical Information
- Architects: Kengo Kuma & Associates | Kengo Kuma Bibliography
- Typology: Hotel
- Location: Vals, Switzerland
- Project year: 2015
- Size: 500 m2
- Images: © Ingo Rasp
You could say that my aim is ‘to recover the place’. The place is a result of nature and time; this is the most important aspect. I think my architecture is some kind of frame of nature. With it, we can experience nature more deeply and more intimately. Transparency is a characteristic of Japanese architecture; I try to use light and natural materials to get a new kind of transparency.
– Kengo Kuma
Therme Suiteroom Vals Photographs
© Ingo Rasp
© Ingo Rasp
© Ingo Rasp
© Ingo Rasp
Text by the Architects
We rebuilt a penthouse on top of the Vals Therme Hotel.
By using Vals stone for the floor, we planned to create a ground in the air on which wooden houses stand in line.
Gaps are secured between the units so that each unit is given independence as a single house.
We designed the villa as a place where you can return to the wild of human beings, facing the nature that snow peak is aiming for. I hope that by facing the changing seasons and nature, the existence of my architecture will disappear.
– Kengo Kuma
Therme Suite room Vals Plans
About Kengo Kuma
Kengo Kuma (隈 研吾, Kuma Kengo, born 1954) is a Japanese architect and professor in the Department of Architecture (Graduate School of Engineering) at the University of Tokyo. Born in Yokohama in the Kanagawa prefecture, Kengo Kuma is considered one of the most significant contemporary Japanese architects. After graduating from the University of Tokyo (1979), he studied at Colombia University for two years as a visiting researcher (1985-86). In 1987 he founded the Spatial Design Studio (now Kengo Kuma & Associates) and opened his Paris Studio in 2008.
His design vision expresses the emotional content of materials, linked to intrinsic characteristics in construction and the teachings of Japanese traditions. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolific writings. He is the designer of the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo which has been built for the 2020 Summer Olympics
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