HOME >ARCHITECTS VOICE >記憶をつなぎ、未来へ手渡す。建築は「時間の器」である

Connecting Memories, Passing Them on to the Future
Architecture Is a “Vessel of Time”

Born the son of Shinkichi Kinjo, a giant of Okinawan architecture, Utaka Kinjo initially had little interest in architecture. At one point, in reaction against his father, he pursued artificial and abstract forms of expression. Through his training in Tokyo, challenges in international design competitions, and experience at JO First-Class Architect Office, which he founded with his younger brother, Tsukasa Kinjo, Utaka arrived at a conviction: architecture is not a form, but a philosophy.
The keyword running through his designs is “memory.” This is not simply a reproduction of the past. It is an act of connecting the history held by a place, and the time accumulated by the people who live there, to the future through the filter of contemporary architecture. Today, his perspective extends beyond the framework of a single building toward creating “shared memories”—transforming individual memories into an asset for the wider community.

——— What does “Okinawan architecture” mean to you?

Utaka Kinjo: I have rarely designed with a conscious intention to express “Okinawan identity” directly. Instead, I focus on carefully drawing out the unique value found only in a particular place, layer by layer, through its history and local character. Precisely because of this, it is a natural outcome when a work becomes something that could only have been realized in Okinawa, or when something distinctly “Okinawan” emerges.
No two places in the world are identical. When designing in the unique setting of Okinawa, architectural necessity arises only by weaving together the terrain, materials, and the memories of the people who have lived there for generations. This is not simply a pursuit of localism. Even the most subtle personal memory can become the basis for architecture with universal value that resonates with people around the world, if it is rooted in a shared human sensibility.

Turning personal memories into shared memories for the next generation. Utaka Kinjo speaks passionately about Okinawan architecture.
Shinkichi Kinjo’s “Third House (House of Okinawa)” is a landmark work that reinterprets traditional Okinawan housing as contemporary architecture. It is also the home where his three sons—who followed in his footsteps and became architects—grew up.
Broad horizontal roofs and expansive glass openings invite light and wind inside. The firm’s own office is an open, airy space integrated with a garden paved with Ryukyuan limestone.

——— How do you think architecture should respond to Okinawa’s climate?

Utaka Kinjo: Of course, I respect advanced technologies, along with the data and knowledge they provide, as essential. Meeting numerical standards such as energy-efficiency requirements is a basic premise of contemporary architecture, but it represents only one aspect of evaluation. What matters is reconstructing, through modern technology, the “intuitive correctness” cultivated by our predecessors—the formation of shade beneath deep eaves and the paths through which wind moves. In fact, the methods we have developed by refining our senses have also enabled us to meet today’s high standards for energy efficiency. The contrast between light and shadow felt on site, and subtle changes in the wind—by exploring these physical qualities beyond measurable performance, I believe we can create the essential value of architecture.

——— The word “memory” holds a very important meaning in your architectural designs, doesn’t it?

Utaka Kinjo: I believe that the memories people experience in a place are etched more vividly in their minds than the physical building itself. For example, at the House of Akajanga, which received the Grand Prize at the 5th Okinawa Architecture Awards, we planted native Ryukyuan plants along a path where people from the shell-midden period may once have walked, evoking a landscape from that time. At Kunindo, a guesthouse created by renovating my own home, we wove the passage of time embodied in the materials into the space: Ryukyu cedar that was once a table was reused as a bed headboard, while coral was laid in the traces left by removed walls. By embedding the “stories” of the land and its materials in architecture, I hope to create opportunities for residents to rediscover the history of the region and deepen their attachment to the place.

——— What specific activities are you undertaking to nurture “shared memories”?

Utaka Kinjo: At “Kunindo,” we are experimenting with opening architecture from the realm of “private ownership” to “shared experience.” As part of this effort, we provide architectural education for local children. By allowing them to actually “see, touch, and feel” the building, we offer them an opportunity to think about their own homes and the environment of their community.
At the same time, I hope guests who stay there will take home an experience that goes beyond using it simply as a base for sightseeing. Families and groups bathe in the same morning sunlight, talk together, and fill the space with laughter. The accumulation of such moments spent “together” becomes a “shared memory.” If guests compare the memories they experience in Okinawa with their own culture and take them home as part of their travel experience—and if those memories become part of their lifestyle afterward—I feel that creating this facility will have been worthwhile.

The House of Akajanga, winner of the Okinawa Architecture Award. Three rows of white volumes in varying sizes, porch walls reminiscent of a hinpun, and Ryukyuan limestone laid at ground level give this refined white architecture a distinctly Okinawan character.
Exterior view from the southeast corner. To bring the building closer to the community, the garden trees—normally placed inside the fence—were intentionally planted outside it. The greenery spills into the neighborhood, gently connecting the building with its surroundings.
“Kunindo,” a guesthouse created by renovating his own home. In this special space, filled with the memory of the land, guests can step away from everyday life and enjoy a uniquely Okinawan experience.

——— Is there anything you would like to say to young architects?

Utaka Kinjo: Young people will inevitably grow older. When that time comes, I want you to look back and consider what you have left for society. What matters is the awareness of “passing things on.” Creating your own work means recognizing that one day you will entrust that place to someone else and pass the baton forward. There is no need to focus only on new construction. Whether through renovation or any other approach, if you sincerely take on the challenges before you, you will always discover something new. I hope you will use those insights not as an end in themselves, but as nourishment to pass on to the next generation.
We are now working to give form to the ideas left by my father, Shinkichi Kinjo, as a continuation of “Dialogue with the Original Space.” This, too, is an attempt to connect history and preserve its value over time for the future. Rather than remaining in a closed world where you keep your discoveries to yourself and “tell no one,” I hope you will become open architects who freely share your knowledge as a common asset for society as a whole. Please take pride in your role as a “connector”—someone who receives the weighty baton of history, refines it further, and passes it on to the next generation.

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For Utaka Kinjo, architecture is not merely a physical “thing,” but a “vessel of memory” that carries the time held within it into the future. By opening private homes—personal property—to the local community and cultivating “shared memories” with children of the next generation and travelers, he expands the value of a single building to society as a whole. By carefully reading the context of each place and elevating the stories embedded in materials and landscapes into universal value, he situates architecture not as an isolated object, but within a rich continuum of time connecting the past to the future. His approach encourages a heartfelt dialogue with the community and its history through architecture, reconnecting individual memories with society’s shared heritage. It serves as a clear guide for enriching life in Okinawa.

金城豊 / UTAKA KINJO

JO First-Class Architect Office
Representative Director / First-Class Architect

Born in Haebaru Town, 1970
Graduated from the Architecture Program, Advanced Course, Technical High School Attached to Tokyo Institute of Technology, 1991
Worked at Paradisus Architects, 1991–1995
Graduated from the Department of Architecture at Kogakuin University, 1995
Co-founded JO First-Class Architect Office with his younger brother, Tsukasa Kinjo, 1999