SEKISUI HOUSE - KUMA LAB

Farshid Moussavi “Architecture and Micropolitics: The Politics of Everyday Space” Date and Time : May 22nd, 2026. 18:30~20:00 JST (door opens at 18:15) Place : HASEKO-KUMA HALL (Engineering Building no.11, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, TOKYO) Language : English No registration required.

We are pleased to announce that particle dance, a documentary film on Kengo Kuma, will open on Saturday, March 21, 2026, at Theatre Image Forum (Shibuya, Tokyo), followed by a nationwide rollout. For details, please visit the official website: https://www.particledance.jp/ Film Overview Title: particle dance 2025 | Japan | 145 min | Color | 1.78:1 | 4K | 5.1ch | DCP Featuring: Kengo Kuma Written, Directed, Shot, Edited & Produced by: Hiromoto Oka Music: Kazuma Fujimoto / Sound Design: Michiaki Katsumoto / Title Calligraphy: Taku Furukawa This documentary chronicles a fifteen-year journey following architect Kengo Kuma. Beginning in 2010, director Hiromoto Oka, a former student of Kuma, independently produced the film, teaching himself filmmaking and personally traveling with a single camera to document over eighty architectural projects across sixteen countries. As poetic and fragmented as a Japanese haiku, the film takes the form of a linked-verse sequence, sketching Kuma's daily life on the road and his engagement in architectural education as he continually questions and proposes new possibilities for architecture through events including the Tohoku reconstruction projects following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the Tokyo 2020 Games, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tohoku sections, through documentary footage of the reconstruction process and everyday life in communities such as Minamisanriku, Rikuzentakata, and Tome, convey the wisdom of recovery that resides in the Japanese people.

Dominique Perrault “Above / Below The Groundscape” Date and Time : December 12th, 2025. 18:00~19:30 JST (door opens at 17:45) Place : KAJIMA HALL(Engineering Building no.1, Lecture Hall 15, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, TOKYO) Language : English Registration：https://forms.gle/Q14TdXwDGrb3Vjf16 (link available in our bio) Standing room will close once capacity is reached. No online broadcast planned.

Learning From Biennale Architettura 2025 第19回ヴェネチア・ビエンナーレ国際建築展から学ぶこと SUNAKI共同代表の木内俊克氏＋砂山太一氏をお招きして、第19回ヴェネチア・ビエンナーレ国際建築展の報告＋レクチャーイベントを開催します。 日時：2025年12月6日（土）18:00~19:30（開場17:45） 場所：HASEKO – KUMA HALL（東京大学本郷キャンパス工学部11号館） 言語：日本語 事前登録は不要です。直接会場にお越しください。オンライン配信の予定はありません。

Kevin Nute “Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan Revisited” Date and Time : November 28th, 2025. 18:30~20:00 JST (door opens at 18:15) Place : HASEKO – KUMA HALL (Engineering Building no.11, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, TOKYO) Language : English No registration required. Please directly come to the venue. No online broadcast planned.

This week, our architectural assistant Sarah visited Surface Reflections at the 2025 London Design Biennale, Somerset House where she discovered bold new takes on material innovation. Upon entry to this year’s #LDB25, delicate Washi paper floated through the atrium of the historic Nelson Stair. The Japan Pavilion accompanied it’s beautiful installation with moving performances from violinist Midori Komachi and young musicians from the London Music Fund. Living Assembly, by Northumbria University’s Living Construction Group and UCL’s Beckett Lab, imagined buildings grown from mycelium blocks, microbial leather, and bioactive ceramics, mesmerising swirls where living matter meets parametric design. Poland’s Pavilion titled ‘Records of Waiting’, used traditional Polish wood-carving to transform stillness into surface, with every mark a trace of suspended time. Following last month’s visit to the Chelsea Flower Show, where we explored The Intelligent Garden and its striking mycelium façade by Studio Weave and Sebastian Cox, we’ve been thinking more and more about nature as a construction partner, and diving into what London’s design scene has to offer. From fungi façades grown on agricultural waste to full-scale living structures, this year’s London Design Biennale offered an exciting glimpse into a future where we don’t just use natural materials, we let nature do the building. @somersethouse @londondesignbiennale @londonmusicfund @ut_iaep @artitec @midori_komachi @northumbriauni @bartlettarchuc @mickiewicz_institute @culture_pl . . . #LivingArchitecture #Mycelium #LondonDesignBiennale #ChelseaFlowerShow #SustainableDesign #Biodesign #StudioVisit #ArchitecturalInnovation #NaturalMaterials #SebastianCox #StudioWeave #Biofabrication #LivingConstruction #DesignFuture #LDB25 #ldbpaperclouds #PlasticFreeJuly

Tomorrow, Friday 27th June, from 6pm, you are invited to our Biennale “Friday Late” music performances in The Nelson Stair @somersethouse , in a special partnership with London Music Fund @londonmusicfund . Admission free, no tickets required. The performances will be at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm, with violinist-composer @midori_komachi performing in the “Paper Clouds” Washi prototype dress designed by SEKISUI HOUSE - KUMA LAB @ut_iaep alongside four of London Music Fund’s hugely talented Senior Scholars. Midori and the LMF young musicians will be performing solos - on violin, flute and guitar - to create improvised sound motifs in dialogue with Komachi’s recorded composition and with the Paper Clouds created by the KUMA LAB team led by Toshiki Hirano @artitec . It’s the final opportunity to see the dress come to life through music, and the stunning stone speakers by @mineral.sound - in Swaledale fossil stone and Tuscan Fiori di Bosco marble. These performances follow a wonderful Music Workshop by Midori Komachi, held at Somerset House on 21st June, in collaboration with London Music Fund. In the workshop, Midori shared her beautiful graphic score for “Paper Clouds” with five Senior Scholars from LMF, teaching the students about Japanese musical concepts that have inspired her composition, including Sawari and Onomatopoeia. She encouraged the young musicians, whose musical careers are nurtured and supported by LMF from childhood, to take a more physical, tactile approach to instruments within a space, interacting in curious and surprising ways with the materiality of their instruments and the music’s response to Washi paper and the extraordinary space inside The Nelson Stair. The results, which you will hear on Friday 27th June, are both exciting and moving. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England @aceagrams . “Paper Clouds” is sponsored by @official_mikimoto and @mineral.sound with support from @eepee_elbourne and Sam Porter-Frakes @arupgroup and @awagami_factory . Further support by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, JSPS Kakenhi Grant, POLA Art Foundation, The Hinrichsen Foundation. #ldbpaperclouds #music

A little silent clip from a new short film by Candida Richardson @_canny of “Paper Clouds”, Japan Pavilion @londondesignbiennale . The Washi paper dress - Architecture meets Fashion. 🤍💛Filmed by kind permission of @somersethouse and commissioned by @clarefarrowstudio with support using public funding by @aceagrams . Designed by SEKISUI HOUSE - KUMA LAB @ut_iaep - Washi paper clouds and prototype paper dress come to life in the performances of violinist-composer @midori_komachi . It’s a complex dressing process inspired by traditional Japanese armour - turning metal into paper, in an expression of lightness, experimentation, sustainability and a call for peace. Midori’s final performances - in partnership with London Music Fund’s Senior Scholars @londonmusicfund - will be on Friday 27th June from 6pm. Admission to The Nelson Stair in Somerset House (via Seamen’s Hall) is free, no tickets required. Solo performances will be at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm. More details to follow! ⛅️✨ Project Leader: @artitec Costume Design, Production & Dressing Assistants: Hirota Matsumoto, @wan_wan_dogee_ Amane Kido, Kanaho Kidahashi, @baibouchai and @v4ishali ✨”Paper Clouds” is sponsored by @official_mikimoto and @mineral.sound with lighting by @eepee_elbourne and Sam Porter-Frakes for @arupgroup and technical support by @awagami_factory . Supported using public funding by @aceagrams . Further support by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, JSPS Kakenhi Grant, POLA Art Foundation and The Hinrichsen Foundation. #ldbpaperclouds #fashion #paperfashion #film #exhibition #music #performances #washi

This is our wonderful ‘Paper Clouds’ Japan Pavilion team! ⛅️✨ Please vote for us for the Public Medal, to be awarded on Friday! Link here and in bio! /to/aFtXyjNs?typeform-source=qr2.mobi Going down The Nelson Stairs from top left to right: Vaishali Odedra @v4ishali (MA Interior Design, RCA); Satoru Kazamatsuri @s.kazamatsuri_68 (Architecture, The University of Tokyo and KUMA LAB project member); Senia Savia Gomes @senia.savia (MA Interior Design, RCA), Anon Okazaki @wan_wan_dogee_ (Architecture, The University of Tokyo, and Fashion, Central Saint Martins); Bouchaib Hilali @baibouchai (Jewellery Designer, Goldsmiths Design graduate); Yoshihiro Fukushima (Structural Engineer, The University of Tokyo); Clare Farrow @clarefarrowstudio (Curator, Writer and Producer); Midori Komachi @midori_komachi (Violinist and Composer); Toshiki Hirano @artitec (Project Leader and Co-Director for the KUMA LAB @ut_iaep ). ⛅️ Supported using public funds by @aceagrams the project is sponsored by @official_mikimoto and @mineral.sound with lighting by @eepee_elbourne and Sam Porter-Frakes for @arupgroup and technical support from @awagami_factory Further support from The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, POLA Art Foundation, JSPS Kakenhi Grant and The Hinrichsen Foundation. #ldbpaperclouds #installation #teamwork #washi #handmadepaper #free #collaboration #londondesignbiennale

The newly launched stone speakers by our ‘Paper Clouds’ sound sponsor @mineral.sound , handcrafted by founder and French stonemason Alexandre Bertrand, have become an important part of the Japan Pavilion (on until 29th June) @londondesignbiennale . ⛅️The sound is clear, warm and stunning in The Nelson Stair. The 4 stone speakers, two large (115 cm h.) and two small (50 cm h.), which play the recorded composition by violinist-composer @midori_komachi sit in a beautiful material dialogue with the Japanese Washi paper clouds and dress designed by SEKISUI HOUSE - KUMA LAB @ut_iaep . Their stone weight (100 kg and 50 kg) balances the lightness of the paper clouds, in empathy with the 4 large ‘boundary stones’ that travelled from Tokyo, and in the new film by @_canny of Midori Komachi’s live performances (upcoming) the stone speakers are also in dialogue with the beautiful Japanese pearls of jewellery sponsor @official_mikimoto ; and with the lighting by @eepee_elbourne and Sam Porter-Frakes on behalf of @arupgroup . The stone chosen by Bertrand for “Paper Clouds” is ancient and the surfaces, while polished and minimal in form, are endlessly fascinating in their detail: the large speakers showing the complex fossil traces of Swaledale limestone (over 350 million years old) from Yorkshire UK, and in the smaller speakers showing the blue-grey cloudy beauty of Fiori di Bosco Tuscamarble (190 million years old). He has named these smaller ones (first photo by @artitec ) which can tilt to angle the sound, “Kōritsu studio” speakers, meaning “Efficiency” in Japanese. Perfect for smaller living-work spaces. The speakers are bespoke, and available to buy from 29th June or to commission in the stone and scale of your choice. Please contact us if you are interested to discuss. “Paper Clouds” is sponsored by @official_mikimoto and @mineral.sound . Music Partner @londonmusicfund . Further support by @awagami_factory @arupgroup JSPS Kakenhi Grant, POLA Art Foundation, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, The Hinrichsen Foundation. #ldbpaperclouds #speakers #music #sound #innovation #materials #bespoke #architecture #stonemasonry #handcraft

Very proud to have worked with theatre lighting designers Ed Elbourne @eepee_elbourne and Sam Porter-Frakes, supporting ‘Paper Clouds’ on behalf of @arupgroup , to transform the Washi paper clouds and paper dress by @ut_iaep and project leader @artitec - as worn by violinist-composer @midori_komachi - for the Japan Pavilion curated by @clarefarrowstudio for @londondesignbiennale . As Ed Elbourne writes: “Our lighting design explores the interaction of light with the dimensions of washi material at different scales. We were fascinated by the beautiful washi that Kuma Lab pioneered for this project, and our prototyping process discovered a remarkable contrast in the visual perception of the material at different scales and under different lighting conditions. At large scale and under general illumination, the material appears light with a gentle rolling texture, like whispy light clouds. At a much more detailed scale the washi paper reveals a tempest of fibres, more like stormy clouds. We found that backlighting the material was particularly interesting, highlighting the complex 3D tangles of fibres and inviting the spectator to take a closer look. The dress is internally illuminated by a slow modulating colour temperature, reminiscent of the sun moving behind clouds. At the larger scale, the natural daylight in the Nelson Stair is augmented with additional top light, revealing a fluffy texture in the washi paper. The backlight reflects internally through the material, producing a silver lining. the lighting also brushes the golden kimono thread, making the complex web of structure glisten.“ #ldbpaperclouds #londondesignbiennale #washi #lighting #theatrelighting #lightingdesign #handmadepaper #paper #texture #exhibition

It was wonderful to welcome and to interview Japanese architect and professor Kengo Kuma, founder and advisor of SEKISUI HOUSE – KUMA LAB @ut_iaep , in The Nelson Stair of @somersethouse on 10th June. It was also a huge honour for us to meet Japan’s Ambassador to the UK, Mr Hiroshi Suzuki, who was kind enough to visit ‘Paper Clouds’, the Japan Pavilion, and to discuss the experimental role of the KUMA LAB and the beauty of Japanese Washi paper with Kengo Kuma. We were pleased to give Mr Suzuki a copy of the ‘Paper Clouds’ folding publication (available in The Nelson Stair), and a small Washi-cloud sample, showing the textured and translucent surface. This is made through the care and movement of handcraft, but taking Washi paper in new, experimental directions – looking to the future of architecture and fashion. We were also honoured to be joined by Victoria Broackes, Director of @londondesignbiennale . Group photo, left to right: Victoria Broackes, Kengo Kuma, Ambassador Hiroshi Suzuki, curator Clare Farrow, project leader Toshiki Hirano, and violinist-composer Midori Komachi. The filmed interview by Clare Farrow and @_canny is upcoming. Filming by kind permission of Somerset House. ‘Paper Clouds’ is sponsored by @official_mikimoto and @mineral.sound and our music partner is @londonmusicfund . The project is supported using public funding by @aceagrams . Further support by @eepee_elbourne and Sam Porter-Frakes @arupgroup , @awagami_factory , JSPS Kakenhi Grant, POLA Art Foundation, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and The Hinrichsen Foundation. #washi #ldbpaperclouds #handcraft #handmadepaper #japanese #japanesefashion #japanesedesign