Born in 1954, Kengo Kuma earned a master's degree from the University of Tokyo in 1979, and after completing a fellowship at Columbia University, he founded Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990. A lecturer at the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Tokyo in 2009, Kengo Kuma is particularly known for such internationally significant projects as the Kirosan Observatory (1995), the Water/Glass (1995, won the AIA Benedictus Award), the Noh Stage in the Forest (won the Architectural Institute of Japan Annual Award in 1997), and the Bato-machi Hiroshige Museum (won the Murano Award). His recent works include the Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum (2010), the Asakusa Culture and Tourism Center (2012), the Nagaoka City Hall Aore (2012), and the Ginza Kabukiza (2013). Beyond Japanese borders, the Center for Arts and Culture in Besançon, the FRAC in Marseille, and the Aix-en-Provence Conservatory of Music completed in 2013. Currently, he is developing more than 100 projects in Japan, Europe, the U.S., China and numerous Asian countries. Kengo Kuma & Associates is also working on the new national stadium in Japan, and Kengo Kuma has authored numerous publications, including Anti-Object, translated into English, Chinese and Korean.