kuwait embassy, Tokyo Japan,
invited competition, with PAE
Tokyo: One of the largest cities on the planet, an endless sea of lights.
So much of everything that there is nothing – a desert.
Traditional Kuwaiti architecture has always been confronted by two endless boundaries; the desert and the sea. This was the same challenge we faced. Our scheme uses traditional forms and patterns to create a simple expression that presents the nation of Kuwait to the hyper drive environment of Tokyo. The design is rendered in an 21st century glass skin that addresses the needed security and sustainability issues but more importantly reflected the vast changes that have occurred in Kuwait in the last century.
The interior is grouped around a below grade vertical oasis, an inverted concept of the traditional courtyard house of the Middle East that contrast with the "dry" expression of the exterior and is a physical metaphor of this country's ability to flourish in the desert.