Point Line Plane is Kengo Kuma's philosophical manifesto for dismantling the monolithic certainties of 20th-century architecture — breaking hard concrete volumes into elemental geometries that foreground human connection and material lightness.
About This Book
Through a sequence of thought-provoking essays, Kuma constructs an argument against the megastructures and capitalist imperatives that defined modernist building, proposing instead an architecture that dissolves mass into points, lines and planes. Drawing across art history, philosophy and literature, the book refuses the insularity of conventional architectural theory — it reads as a cross-disciplinary manifesto, positioning sustainability and simplicity not as technical constraints but as ethical commitments. For practitioners and students seeking a framework that bridges Japanese spatial tradition with contemporary design thinking, this is essential reading.
Key Features
- 216 pages of philosophical essays spanning architectural theory, art history and literature
- Written by Kengo Kuma, Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo
- Published by Thames & Hudson, ISBN: 9780500027967
What You'll Discover
- Kuma's critique of 20th-century megastructures and the capitalist forces that produced them
- A geometric framework — point, line, plane — for rethinking architectural form beyond mass and volume
- How tradition and innovation can coexist within a coherent design philosophy rather than exist in opposition
- The relationship between nature, technology and human beings as the generative tension in contemporary architecture
About the Author
Kengo Kuma is one of Japan's leading architects and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo. Widely recognised as both a practitioner and philosopher of architecture, he has built a body of work and writing that proposes new relationships between nature, technology and human experience.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 216
- Dimensions: 15 x 23 x 3 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780500027967
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and design students drawn to cross-disciplinary theory, practitioners interested in Japanese spatial philosophy, and anyone interrogating the ethics of contemporary built form.