Design Year Book

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 08:42 AM PDT

Recently while doing a research on timber structure, I came across the CIDORI, an installation by Kengo Kuma at Milano Salone 2007 (100 years of Mondadori Milano Capitale del Design Decode Elements). No doubt, Kengo known the best of traditional structures from Japan.

In CIDORI, the literal translation being 1000 birds, does not express how material is dense, but rather the state of birds flying through the sky like particles. This CIDORI KOSHI, or CIDORI Lattice, is a traditional technique lacing thin rectangular wood into a lattice by making a special notch in the wood. By using this technique, a strong structure can be created without using any nails, and at the same time, it is possible to dismantle the structure at once.

For this installation, Kengo Kuma applied the CIDORI KOSHI in a three-dimensional space, attempting to create an open and transparent "house". This structure has not used any adhesives or nails, and is easy to dismantle.