Staged in the Tuileries Gardens during FIAC, Kengo Kuma's latest architecture folly 'moves with the wind'; just like its Japanese name, Yure, suggests. Made of hundreds of pieces of wood, all different, the 12-meter tall pavilion rises high, gently responding to the flux of air.
'The wooden elements symbolically represent a forest: Kengo Kuma drew on the idea of the 'inhabited tree' to compose this structure,' Philippe Gravier, the man who commissioned the piece, explains. A pioneer, Gravier long had in mind to invite architects into the art world. 'I feel some architects have more talent than conceptual artists today: a cross over between art and architecture seemed like the right move,' he adds.
Faced with his gallery's series of small houses - entitled Small Nomad Houses - one can draw parallels with the works of Donald Judd or Sol Lewitt; last year's FIAC pavilion by Fou Sugimoto for Gravier felt, indeed, like a spatial representation of a Sol Lewitt drawing.
Having in mind to create an exclusive collection of Small Nomad Houses, Gravier sends long hand written letters to some of the world's brightest minds, offering them a carte blanche to design a durable, nomad living structure that can be easily dismantled and doesn't exceed 35 m2 in surface. A structure that is intimate yet remains highly sculptural. As a result, Gravier is working on four different ground-breaking projects with Kengo Kuma this year. No screws, no glue and no bolts were used to create Yure.
'Architects see the Small Nomad Houses as an opportunity to escape their daily practice, as a project, where they can experiment freely. For collectors, on the other hand, the Small Nomad Houses stand out as unique pieces. They are the very essence of architecture today,' Gravier concludes.
The structure stands tall at 12 metres high and it's made of hundreds of pieces of wood
These timber elemends represent a forest; Kuma wanted to create 'an inhabited tree'
No screws, no glue and no bolts were used to create the pavilion
Entitled Yure, the structure litteraly means 'moves with the wind'
INFORMATION
On view from Oct 15th till Nov 5th inside the Tuileries Gardens, Paris
courtesy Galerie Philippe Gravier
-
Rediscover a classic midcentury hotel in SydneyFender Katsalidis leads a major renovation of the landmark Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel, pairing 1960s modernism with an elevated, Australian-minded reset
-
Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: what to expectFive moments to look out for at Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 in Paris (starting Monday 7 July), from Glenn Martens’ debut for Maison Margiela to Demna’s Balenciaga swansong. Plus, ‘new beginnings’ from JW Anderson
-
Inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Laurent House – a project built with accessibility at its heartThe dwelling, which you can visit in Illinois, is a classic example of Wright’s Usonian architecture, and was also built for a client with a disability long before accessibility was widely considered
-
‘With a small gesture of buying a postcard, we all become copyists’: the Louvre’s celebration of copying speaks to human natureContemporary artists are invited to copy works from the Louvre in a celebration of the copyist’s art, a collaboration with Centre Pompidou-Metz
-
Wolfgang Tillmans brings a performative edge to bibliophilia at the Centre Pompidou’s libraryAs the Centre Pompidou’s library is emptied ahead of the venue’s five-year restoration, the German photographer moves in for a final fling of a Paris exhibition
-
A song for the dead – Josh Homme on performing for six million souls in the bowels of the Paris CatacombsA rock band, a brush with death and an underground tomb coalesce in haunting new Queens of the Stone Age film, ‘Alive in the Catacombs’. Wallpaper* meets frontman Josh Homme and director Thomas Rames
-
The glory years of the Cannes Film Festival are captured in a new photo book‘Cannes’ by Derek Ridgers looks back on the photographer's time at the Cannes Film Festival between 1984 and 1996
-
Technology, art and sculptures of fog: LUMA Arles kicks off the 2025/26 seasonThree different exhibitions at LUMA Arles, in France, delve into history in a celebration of all mediums; Amy Serafin went to explore
-
Contemporary artist collective Poush takes over Château La CosteMembers of Poush have created 160 works, set in and around the grounds of Château La Coste – the art, architecture and wine estate in Provence
-
‘David Hockney 25’: inside the artist’s blockbuster Paris show‘David Hockney 25’ has opened at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Wallpaper’s Hannah Silver took a tour of the colossal, colourful show
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
