Interviewe mat Mitsuharu Kojima

My design is self-educated. After completion of a master's course, I worked for a design office for two years. When I was twenty-seven, I established my architectural design office in 2001. After that, I have been creating my design by original methods.

I have decided to enlighten the whole world by my design. That’s the reason why I wanted to be a great architect.

When I was fourteen, I chose my way to become an architect.

I design minds of people centered in architecture. I’d like to create design that can impress many people so that it will be a comfortable symbol in the area.

A great designer has a big challenge to create frameworks to inspire the people to act for their own future and realize what they are by indicating innovative and universal designs. To change the consciousness of one person is deserved to change that of the whole world.

I have a standard to evaluate the design's degree of exaltation and to enhance the Intelligence.

Good design will change the people's mind to be more positive. We need to live in the present, and we will advance by handing over it to next generations. The advance is supported by designs, and it inspires the people to improve their lives.

I’d like to take much time to design a universal facility that takes in rich environment of universe someday. I’d like to create spaces that people feel warmth of people, not cold space which is similar to it in the movie.

In my imagination, my ideal architect has already existed. The architect will be places where many people gather and give pray to own god or something great. In the building, people will be hold in warmth by the light softly that is spilling out of different angles. The light holds up from time to time which is similar to fine art. People will feel great thank for everything, for example, nature and our lives.

We call for clients who are agree with us.

I remain somewhere of not perfect so that I feel possibility for changing.

We named the house “Distance of Fog”.

We created a renovated design that we interchanged two concepts, a sense of distance in fog and a sense of distance between people. In this architect, residents will feel various senses of distance visually while they are moving in and around the house.

My design is a kind of light tucking the people.

Design is the light.

It is the act of illuminating life itself.

Illuminating the birth of life.

Illuminating to live life, to light up.

Illuminating life that is getting lost.

Illuminating to light up so that life is not frightened by fear.

Illuminating to light up to find out what life is like.

Illuminating dying life.

And also, illuminating to create a new life.

It exists to live to connect to next life in the future.

Thus, I consider that the greatest design is the act to brighten and enrich minds of people.

I’d like to introduce my next works, including an unfinished assembly facility which is possibly finished by filling the people or a house which lives in small gate. I expect to form the area which open to the community.

I’d like to create an atmosphere where I can hold a real world we face in warmth.

I have an idea which an individual person will have a bond with each other freely, not like living in a facility or a colony which district the freedom of human beings.

Design becomes bigger and bigger in power. Because, design gives powers to individual persons who will form a big stream like a huge herd of gnu, it makes significant effects to the society. Therefore, design must be positive.

I am currently working on the architect will be places where many people gather and give pray to own god or something great. In the building, people will be hold in warmth by the light softly that is spilling out of different angles. The light holds up from time to time which is similar to fine art. People will feel great thank for everything, for example, nature and our lives.

We call for clients who are agree with us.

We named the house “Distance of Fog”.

We created a innovative design that we interchanged two concepts, a sense of distance in fog and a sense of distance between people. In this architect, residents will feel various senses of distance visually while they are moving in and around the house.

At the beginning of our project, we keep users under observation. Next, break the existing concept　of users.

Passion !

In my opinion, technology plays the most important role to support the architectural idea.

They have important role to make people to have a soft spot for something.

What does “Embracing Architect” means?

Passion is the motivation by which I’d like to create the design more innovatively and abundantly, it is beyond other people’s imaginations.

I have experienced co-construction many times with many craftsmen through my projects.

One of the craftsmen said to me “I can’t do it.” when I explained a work to him. The work was very fabulous.

So, I didn’t want to give it up. There are many reasons why he turned down my request. It was the most challenging point for us to generate various shaped wooden materials. In addition, we didn’t have enough budgets for it. But, we talked to find the solutions what we needed to do. I started to describe many complex figures of wooden panels by using CAD. The craftsman began to print out the shapes of wooden panels and cut them by his hand. That event generated a fine result that we expected at the beginning.

After finishing the project, he said to me with a big smile. “It’s a piece of cake.” I was pleased with it.

Every morning, I ask myself in the mirror what I am.

I was sure that my dream would come true that to be a great architect from bottom of my heart.

When I was fourteen, I encountered a brilliant work of a famous Japanese architect. His work gave me a great shock and has inspired me to be an architect. The vivid experience gave me a great insight of what is an influence of design to human beings, splendid cultures, and history of expression of the system and so on. I considered that the design may motivate people to do something new or lead to bad direction of our lives. Thus, I considered that my mission was to indicate innovative design that would lighten the whole society of human culture.

Mitsuharu Kojima Architects is led by Mr. Mitsuharu Kojima, who has been mainly working in Japan. The three concepts of Mitsuharu Kojima Architects are as follows. 1) We focus on the mind of people. That is changing flexible while touching changeable things of nature. And we bring out the beauty of changeable nature to best effect, including light, wind, cloud, fog, and all of which get right to the mind of people. 2) We find multiple new ways to enhance the quality of interactions among people, and we make every effort to bright up the areas where buildings are. 3) We work to let users to recognize their identities so that getting deep insights into their lives. Based on these concepts, they construct innovative designs for the future that is named by them as Embracing Architecture. We redefine the existing notion and phenomenon inductively. In other words, we resolve one module, and analyze the interactions relatively between each factors of the whole design, nature, and the residents. Our buildings with charm that beyond abundant of simplicity is enrich hearts of people.

Design is the light.It is the act of illuminating life itself.Illuminating the birth of life.Illuminating to live life, to light up.Illuminating life that is getting lost.Illuminating to light up so that life is not frightened by fear.Illuminating to light up to find out what life is like.Illuminating dying life.And also, illuminating to create a new life.It exists to live to connect to next life in the future.Thus, I consider that the greatest design is the act to brighten and enrich minds of people.

I feel that something worth has a possibility to break the prejudice of us, for example, the glass can be an object used for drinking water or for keeping flowers such as a vase.

I am fascinated at Japanese print engravings “Ukiyoe”, I impress not only the fabulous techniques and methods of the expressions, but also, moreover those factors, the engraver focused on describing the lives of the people vividly, which fit the period.

We design the house that was renovated by a son. The house was taken over from his father. The son requested us to remain his father’s favorite Japanese room and change the designs of other rooms, so that he would feel the warmth of fathers mind. I came to know that I could to hand the feelings by create the design which I focused on mind of residents. This experience gave me the inspiration of Embracing Architect.

I always look for new materials that can give different inspirations to people. I choose them with regard to the ways of using or various purposes of users. Especially, I consider the texture and the ways of conducting the heat of materials.

Although when I’m alone, I can feel the warmth from somebody.

We focus on reconstructing the existing concepts to convert the vision from the past to the future.

When I come up my new design, I feel that I get excited like a little boy who realized new ways of playing.

I will be inspired to embrace the architect that I created, and feel like to enlighten our society, including users and neighbors.

I consider whether my design is a user’s feeling- centered frameworks or not, or whether it will enhance the quality of interactions between users and houses.

A designer is the person who has the great responsibilities to the society and the environments.

The origin of my inspiration is emotions of humans. It is generated through the process of understanding the feelings of interactions among the people or between the people and buildings. My creativity is brought up by the solutions of collision of the contradiction.

Our design style is the Embracing Architecture that characterized in creating the architecture that will give the feelings residents who can talk with them. The approach to the Embracing Architecture is beginning from searching the possibilities that the buildings can be a human who gave the user the warmth of feelings.

Japanese traditional houses rather than cultural heritages influenced me. Thus, I came to imagine an architectural design based on the inspiration from them, which gradually links to inner space and outer world. In other words, they introduced the environment, because our ancients are agricultural people. They created the lifestyle that connected to nature and people.

We consider that it is very important to change our world to a better place. One positive design generates various positive changes. Our design exists to bring the world to the next stage and enlighten the people’s lives.

To shorten the distance of minds among people.

What does Embracing Architecture mean?

We’d like to design the architect that will embrace many people. We have been looking for clients who sympathize with our designs, and wish to build such a things as assembly facilities, and a church.

I develop my own design.

I’d like to introduce my next works, including an unfinished assembly facility, which is practically finished by filling the people or a house with a feeling like living in a small gate.

You can contact us by e-mail and website of our company.