CCreate: Kengo Kuma/KKAA Earth | Tree

There is a unique Japanese concept that describes sunlight filtering through the leaves of a tree canopy: Komorebi (木漏れ日). Few languages have an equivalent word – but our bodies know the feeling. Research shows that simply spending time in a forest lowers stress hormones, reduces heart rate and alleviates anxiety, depression and fatigue.

This is the feeling that architect Kengo Kuma/KKAA has turned into a physical space at CC. The installation Earth | Tree is rooted in one of humanity’s most fundamental impulses: the need to seek shelter. Not as an abstract idea, but as a bodily memory – the feeling of standing beneath a large tree, sheltered from the outside world and the rumination of everyday life.

Kengo Kuma is known for his sensory approach to materials and works from a philosophy of “soft architecture” – an architecture that emerges in dialogue with the physical space, nature and people.

In Earth | Tree, wood and brick have been chosen for their tactile and historical dimensions. The wood brings the scent of the forest into the space. The brick anchors the installation in a millennia-old building tradition. Both materials are culturally rooted in Japanese and Nordic attitudes to nature alike – and it is the meeting between these two traditions that Yuki Ikeguchi, who has led KKAA’s work on the installation, has shaped into a unified expression.

“Play of light, air and shadow is some of the most important materials to play with.” – Yuki Ikeguchi

Within the installation, all senses are invited: the scent of wood and earth, the roughness of brick beneath your fingertips, the movement of light across the floor. Architecture is not experienced here primarily through the eyes – but with the entire body. Or as Yuki Ikeguchi puts it: “We just hope that people would be drawn to it, be curious and simply enjoy it.”

A central point of Earth | Tree is that creativity is not reserved for architects. In the exhibition’s workshop zone, you can set things in motion yourself: shape landscapes in sand, build with Tsumiki – the Japanese wooden blocks that Kengo Kuma designed for play, inspired by his own childhood – and experiment with Danish-produced wooden blocks and miniature bricks.

This is not a children’s activity alongside the exhibition. It is the heart of the exhibition. Because Earth | Tree is about the fact that all people – regardless of background or experience – have the capacity to shape their surroundings. All it takes is materials, time and the courage to begin.

Earth I Tree designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates Credit: Yuki Ikeguchi, partner in charge of design Project team: Asger T. TAARNBERG, Yasemin Sahiner, Nicolas Guichard