MMA is an architecture and interior design studio based in Tokyo, Japan. We create buildings, spaces, and objects from concept planning. Our motto is to explore new technologies and ideas for active creation and application of innovative materials, to ask “why?” in any project with a humble attitude, and to cherish the power of imagination to solve an issue by changing a viewpoint towards essence of things . We create spaces and buildings that bring out unconscious beauty and universal comfort that cannot be conveyed by words, and appeal to feelings and physical experiences of people through an approach called architecture. I spent about six years of my childhood in Switzerland. I still remember how I played with stones and wooden pieces that I picked up from the surrounding environment while gazing at the structures of houses in my neighborhood, located near a lake. From that experience, I grew interested in folklore studies, and I became an architect particular about how to use materials and to build in accordance with the conditions set by an environment. I always ponder how I can realize honest architecture and materials, making full use of the characteristics of each region and land, and how I transform them for today’ s audiences by thinking about new materials and products that fit into a given context if necessary. In some cases, I collaborate with designers from other fields to realize an idea and search for better answers together. On this basis, I carefully plan the most appropriate zoning for an interior, an important consideration in my practice. However, I dare to create space that has no purpose, like a blank space in life and time, because architecture that simply meets needs and functions feels too cramped to me. I believe that architecture incorporates an aspect of problem-solving. I think that all individuals are extremely diverse, and demand a variety of things today. This is why I endeavor to create architecture that becomes visible when one flexibly shifts one’ s point of view. MOMOKO KUDO ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING MOMOKO KUDO
Transcript
MMA is an architecture and interior design studio based in Tokyo, Japan. We create buildings, spaces, and objects from concept planning.
Our motto is to explore new technologies and ideas for active creation and application of innovative materials, to ask “why?” in any project with a humble attitude, and to cherish the power of imagination to solve an issue by changing a viewpoint towards essence of things .
We create spaces and buildings that bring out unconscious beauty and
universal comfort that cannot be conveyed by words, and appeal to feelings and physical experiences of people through an approach called architecture.
I spent about six years of my childhood in Switzerland. I still remember how I played with stones and wooden pieces that I picked up from the surrounding environment while gazing at the structures of houses in my neighborhood, located near a lake.
From that experience, I grew interested in folklore studies, and I became an architect particular about how to use materials and to build in accordance with the conditions set by an environment.
I always ponder how I can realize honest architecture and materials, making full use of the characteristics of each region and land, and how I transform them for today’ s audiences by thinking about new materials and products that fit into a given context if necessary. In some cases, I collaborate with designers from other fields to realize an idea and search for better answers together.
On this basis, I carefully plan the most appropriate zoning for an interior, an important consideration in my practice. However, I dare to create space
that has no purpose, like a blank space in life and time, because architecture that simply meets needs and functions feels too cramped to me.
I believe that architecture incorporates an aspect of problem-solving. I think that all individuals are extremely diverse, and demand a variety of
things today. This is why I endeavor to create architecture that becomes visible when one flexibly shifts one’ s point of view.
MOMOKO KUDO ARCHITECTURE & PLANNINGMOMOKO KUDO
Architectural Design
HOUSE FACING THE SEA
(2018)
In Hashikami-cho, the southeastern part of Aomori located on the prefectural border with Iwate, this wooden house was designed for a couple in their sixties and their eldest daughter, who spends the summer with them every year. This was MMA’s first residential project.
Unlike interior projects, architectural projects require a deep examination of an allocated parcel of land and must be planned from scratch, which is a great pleasure for many architects.
The owner, who purchased a sloped parcel of richly forested land for its great ocean view, requested “a house where we can see the sea from the living room.” One long horizontal window faces the sea, and through randomly placed windows on the other side, people can catch a glimpse of the forest. The house has a simple layout, with rooms on both sides of the corridor that runs through the middle of the house. Inside this low, horizontal house, which resembles a chimney lying down on the ground, the warm air from the fireplace travels to all the rooms evenly.
As for materials, cedar from Aomori is used for the outer walls, and metal plate, a material commonly used in farm houses in Aomori, is used for the roof. The outer walls are painted black, and their color will turn to green and harmonize with the surroundings over the course of about ten years. The silver-colored roof reflects the sky: blue when it is sunny and dark when it is cloudy, so the roof dissolves into the nature.
At the entryway, round trunk columns are used, strongly suggesting a mountain hut. On the other hand, the sharp angle of the roof and the thinness of the metal plate used as roofing add a modern essence to the house. The cedar used in the outer walls is cut into fine pieces, carefully polished, and precisely placed. Carefully balanced, these features manage to refrain from evoking idyllic impressions. Though wooden houses tend to have a stout appearance, having taken small details into consideration, it was possible to build a modern mountain cottage in this project.
Interior Design
RIVIVE KITCHEN THREE
(2018)
The assignment of this project was to design the interior of a new store for the cosmetic brand THREE in Tokyo Midtown Hibiya. This is the first THREE store to have an adjoining restaurant and delicatessen in a conventional store space.
In zoning with the three functions—store, restaurant, and delicatessen—in a fixed section, my first idea was to create a counter with a big, seamless top running through from the restaurant to the delicatessen to symbolize the whole space. However, materials like marble are too heavy for the brand image, and don’ t convey the casual and contemporary look I imagined. Instead, I decided to use concrete, the color of which reflects the gray theme color of THREE. I also incorporated stone so as to create a dignified ambience coherent with the brand image of THREE, which deals in cosmetics for both women and men. I have been researching domestic stone for a long time. Of the types available, I thought that river stones would give an elegant look when sharpened, so for THREE, I decided to use Oiso stone, which is particularly abundant in color. As a result, a glossy counter with an ample inorganic tabletop embedded with colorful stones was born. After repeated polishing, it became as shiny as a marble.
Furthermore, I used laminated bamboo to produce the shop’ s furniture. Due to its rapid growth rate, bamboo is considered a sustainable material and thus matches the brand concept of THREE, which offers natural skin care products in addition to mode makeup products. I intentionally concealed bamboo knots to give the designs a contemporary look. For the partition in the facade, glass with embedded stainless fine mesh are used. They become luminous when reflect light.
A light with a cylindrical, hand-blown glass shade was installed in the restaurant where natural light enters. It was created in collaboration with the lighting brand NEW LIGHT POTTERY from Nara prefecture. Enhanced with a performance effect, the glass shade of the light reflects and uses sunlight for illumination during the day. At night, light is emitted from within the glass shade. Due to the raw, intact quality of the solid glass, which cannot be obtained from molding, the light creates a gradation as it falls into the thickened bottom of the shade. This idea was inspired by the glass bottles used for THREE products, even those of nail polish.
Window Display
ISSEI MIYAKE MEN(2017)
Design of a window display for a three-month ISSEY MIYAKE MEN limited collection at Aoyama and Kobe stores. In this project, I attempted to use eco-friendly materials suitable for a short period in a temporary space, reducing burdens during construction and need for disposal after withdrawal.
I collaborated with Mr. Konosuke Araki and Mr. Akira Muraoka, members of the design collective AMAN, based in Tokyo. They have received a lot of attention both domestically and internationally for their recent project, a stool made with a new material called RRR (Rice-Reinforced Rolls). RRR is produced using a large amount of rice glue made from discarded rice, sawdust, and linen. The materials are liquefied and dried in a mold. Not only does this strong, lightweight, plastic-like material dissolve in water, it can also be packed compactly with a shape-memory effect, thus reducing transportation costs.
After several discussions and examinations with Mr. Araki and Mr. Muraoka, we decided to use RRR to form a circle based on the key visual of the collection, “Starry sky in the desert,” and installed it over mannequins’ heads. This objet is so large that expands to the store side, linking two separated spaces. In this sense, customers can enjoy the objet visually and physically since they can walk under it in the store. We added pine smoke charcoal, a traditional material used for plastering outer walls, to the RRR; the black particles appeared on the surface, seeming to represent stars in the desert night sky.
An architect could never exist without anyone else to give shape to the design he or she proposes. In that sense, the work is laborious and time-consuming, but I am always on the lookout for opportunities to collaborate with craftsmen, construction workers on site, and those in other fields, seeking the balance needed for architecture.
Interior Design
THE WINE STORE(2014)
Interior design for a wine store located on the first floor of an old building along Meguro Street in Tokyo. I was asked to remodel a former ironworks factory with a high ceiling and bare soil floors.
The client was the female owner of the wine store, who has a huge affection for bio wines. “A place with a long history is somehow similar to bio wine, which requires significant time to be produced.” Inspired by her words, I retained the mortar walls, covered with iron powder and plan drawings by factory workers. In contrast, I adopted steel-based polishing materials for doors and other joiners, which would take on a different patina by being polished through the years.
I created a small space between two doors to the interior and exterior and laid down reddish soil mixed with iron powder. The space is set back from the inner door to the store side, and avoids direct sunlight hitting the seller. A stone set in front of the inner door gives height so that customers step onto it to enter the store which is raised from the ground.
Commercially speaking, the ideal approach is to maximize effective area in a provided space to display as many items as possible. However, I personally find shops that cater only to promotion a bit stuffy. Unlike online shopping, that offers the consumer’ s desire with a direct click, I wonder whether it is possible to find value in useless choices, and even in wasting time in the margins of architecture, in the real space. I think about such things constantly.
