Interview with MASAKI KATO / Puddle —part 2
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I emphasize thinking from the user's point of view.
— Masaki Kato / Puddle
photography : Takumi Ota (KINOSAKI RESIDENCE)
Nacasa & Partners(IWAI OMOTESANDO)
words : Reiji Yamakura/IDREIT translation: Richard Streeby
continue from part 1
For the living room in KINOSAKI RESIDENCE, the unique wooden beam had left as a main object of the space. photography: Takumi Ota
— Please tell me about the design of ‘KINOSAKI RESIDENCE’ in which you renovated a 50-year-old building into a private residence.
For this project we renovated a building called 'Kenban' that used to be a gathering place for Geisha in the famous hot spring town of Kinosaki. When we started dismantling, we found a beam in the back of a shed. It's a wonderful beam that conveys the history of this place, so we talked with the client and decided to preserve the beam and design the residence to make the best use of it.
— You also left the stage on the third floor in place as it was.
To make it compatible with residential use, we halved it in size and repositioned it as a raised seating area. We also removed all the paint on the stage surface to bring out its natural appearance from 50 years earlier. We always reconsider the characteristics of a site and the value of the existing building, and focus on what to leave in place and what needs to be improved, and for this project we truly designed with that philosophy.
— I got a strong feeling from this house as well. Mr. Kato, when you design houses and commercial spaces, you pay a lot of attention to texture and details, but what is your intention in doing so?
— Maybe it's just my personality to look at things in detail. [Laughs.] In our lives, we pay attention to what we touch, and I can't ignore these details when designing. Another reason is that I emphasize thinking from the user's point of view. However, I don't only think about details. There are also many imprecise aspects to my designs. One person described my work as "spaces that are finished with a razor after being carved with a wide blade knife," and I guess there's some truth to that.
For the celebration hall of IWAI OMOTESANDO, low back benched were created with oil finished oak handle. photography: Nacasa & Partners
The beautiful detail of banquet counter in IWAI OMOTESANDO. Kato designed the counter with ‘Sapporo Nanseki’, a type of Japanese volcanic stone.
— Recently you do a lot of work with overseas clients. When doing these designs, are you conscious of "Japaneseness?"
I don't really think about Japan. Even so, I feel Japanese elements affect my designs. For example, I like the concept that 'Ise Grand Shrine' is rebuilt every 20 years.
Also, I’m always conscious of the idea of winning or losing. For example, in Japanese architecture, when I see a fence that meets a rock cut to match the shape of the rock, I think it's wonderful. The natural object wins and the fence loses. Even though I say loses, it isn't inferior. Rather, the fence takes a step back in response to nature. I'm interested in that kind of composition. On the other hand, I don't like huge buildings that ignore their surroundings or designs that are just summations of all their elements.
— Do people from other counties often tell you your designs are Japanese?
In fact they do. And they always say I'm a minimalist. I don't think so myself, and I always think there are others who are more minimalistic. Also, and this may be a little different from Japaneseness, but I think it's good to have three axes when thinking about design.
Whether I am thinking about concepts or materials, three is just the right number for me. Two is not enough, and four is too many. I have that sensibility. Japan may be an influence there.
What is interesting about what Kato says is his philosophy of putting the person who stands in a space at the center of his design. That's a bit different from putting the client first. It has the flexibility of, in the case of a restaurant, putting the customers who spend time there and the staff first, and in the case of a dwelling, of putting the people who live there and the friends who come over first. Designs created by contemplating what the target people see, where they touch and how they feel are expressed through Puddle's three carefully chosen materials or three axes.
MASAKI KATO
Founder and co-director of Puddle / First-class registered architect
Worked at Kengo Kuma & Associates and interior life style brand, IDEE. Established his own studio Puddle in 2012. Having a user-first concept, Kato explores comfort space with local materials and craftsmanship through his tangible design practice. His current works spread in Asia, Middle-East, Europe, North Africa, and the USA. Kato published 'Site-specific cafe design '(Gakugei Shuppan-Sha, Japan) in 2019.
Works: IWAI OMOTESANDO, DANDELION CHOCOLATE
