Event Description
Innovation often aligns with technological advances; however, it's essential to acknowledge the site-specific and interpersonal facets of the process. In this discussion, Balázs Bognár, Partner at Kengo Kuma & Associates and 2025 AIA Japan President, reflects on his firm's conversational methodologies and their experimental design approach, which emphasizes material and detail evolution. This perspective leads to a subtle engagement with site design, encompassing tradition, typology, and place specificity.
Speaker
Balázs Bognár, AIA, President, AIA Japan, Partner, Kengo Kuma and Associates
Moderator
Michel van Ackere, AIA, LEED AP, CSI, Past President, AIA Japan
CES: Estimated 1 LU/ HSW for AIA Members
Speaker Bio
Balázs Bognár, a nationally certified and U.S.-licensed architect, is a native of Urbana, Illinois, and currently serves as Executive Vice President and Partner at Kengo Kuma & Associates in Tokyo, Japan. He is also the 2025 President of American Institute of Architects (AIA) Japan chapter.
Bognár received his Master of Architecture degree in 2003 from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture in 2000 from Washington University in St. Louis. He lectures widely on the work of his office and has written essays to publications such as Domus, Routledge. In 2018, he co-auhored Kengo Kuma: Portland Japanese Garden with his father, Professor Botond Bognár of University of Illinois, released by Rizzoli.
Since joining the renowned Kengo Kuma & Associates in 2007, Bognár has led numerous North American projects. Notable completed works include Alberni in Vancouver, Canada (2023); Rolex Tower in Dallas, Texas (2018), which received the 2019 Engineering News-Record Global Best Office Building Project; Portland Japanese Garden’s Cultural Village in Oregon (2017), honoured with the 2018 Eurasian Prize, and the 2019 AIA Japan Award; and the Red Bull Music Academy in Tokyo, Japan (2014).
Currently, he is collaborating with Professor Bognár on a new book while leading teams on projects in Sydney, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Dallas, and near Philadelphia for the office's first U.S. museum. Additionally, he is involved in planning the first new memorial in the Washington, D.C. Mall in decades.
