A host of very different international leisure projects designed by the architecture studio led by Kengo Kuma have been recently completed or are nearing completion.

The firm, who have offices in Tokyo and Paris, have released new images of Nacrée, a French restaurant opening in Miyagi, Japan. The interiors of the 163sq m building feature numerous plants and flowers artfully arranged in and around wooden and acrylic cylinders “to create an obscure and gentle atmosphere”.

Meanwhile, in Tengchong city, China, the firm has completed a spa on Yunfengshan mountain, a sacred home of Taoism. Buildings are arranged down the mountain, “as if to follow the current of the spirit”. Each structure and pathway is formed of different types of stone sourced from a local quarry, fitted together like a mosaic to express the power of the landscape. The outdoor areas of the 59,000sq m spa complex, called Yunfeng, feature trees and pools to further emphasise the focus on nature.

Also in China, the studio is finishing the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. According to Kuma, the 4,970sq m museum “proposes a new relationship between people and art by creating seamless and highly diverse display spaces”. Structures have been designed with cross-sections that blend in with the mountain slope, meaning the building’s display spaces are seamlessly revealed as you walk through the museum.

Each of the museum’s sections is covered by roof tiles recycled from old homes, and other locally available materials such as cedar, subtly held in place with stainless steel wire to give the museum the appearance of a village. The colour is matched with the soil from local tea gardens to further integrate the surroundings and the man-made architecture.

Kuma is also working on a number of higher-profile leisure projects, including the Hans Christian Andersen Museum in Odense, a V&A museum in Dundee and a civic hub in Sydney.

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Kengo Kuma commissioned for first Australian project: a dynamic civic hub for Sydney

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Kengo Kuma & Associates design cave setting for Museum of Indigenous Knowledge, Manila

Winning design chosen for V&A at Dundee

FEATURE: Museums & Galleries – Art Attack