AIA Japan — Human Nature: Material, Memory, and Continuity in Practice

When: Thursday 9 April 2026 @ 05:30 (Eastern US Time)/ 18:30 (Tokyo time)
Where: ONLINE/ Cosentino Showroom, Tokyo Japan, 2nd floor

Speaker: Balázs Bognár, AIA

CES Credits: TBC

Description

Balázs Bognár, Partner and Executive Vice President at Kengo Kuma & Associates and 2025 AIA Japan President, presents a lecture exploring the evolving relationship between architecture, nature, and cultural context. Framed through personal and professional perspectives, the talk examines how ideas develop across time—shaped by materiality, detail, and collaboration.

Rather than following a chronological narrative, this lecture presents projects through the themes of intention and joinery, revealing connections across geographies and scales. It explores how architectural ideas are continuously refined through processes of iteration, mentorship, and generational knowledge transfer.

Drawing from recent work at Kengo Kuma & Associates, Balázs reflects on how the practice responds to contemporary conditions while remaining grounded in cultural and environmental sensitivity. Central to the talk is the notion of “listening” as a design approach—engaging closely with context, material, and people to shape thoughtful and responsive architecture.