One Omotesando Photo: Mitsumasa Fujitsuka		Another Approach Interview with Kengo Kuma ... Kengo Kuma: My design is always inspired by the materials used for the project. Materials determine the plan and form, even the detail. In 20th century, materials were normally decided at the last stage of design as the “makeup”. We are working exactly in the opposite way. FT: In projects like the Museum of Hiroshige Ando and the Lotus House, patterns coming from materials and structural rhythms are very much present. Would you say that your architecture sometimes tends to be graphical? KK: As for the Hiroshige Museum, the idea came not only from design but also from the pictures by Ando Hiroshige’s pictures, especially by the way the rain is drawn, and from the mountain located behind the site, where Japanese cedars are gregariously grown. I wanted to create a museum which looks like Horoshige’s rain, and is made of cedars from the mountain. FT: Instead of bringing in products from all over the world you sometimes used ancient, local, very low tech construction methods. How would you describe their use in our global, hyper-technological economy? KK: I have been inspired by a number of craftsmen in Japan who have advanced skills. I think that providing built-environment with its local materials would be the ideal way of architecture, possibly together with its local method of construction. Bearing this in mind, I cooperate closely with my colleagues in structure and civil engineering about how modern technology can be effectively combined with natural materials. <