An engawa, reimagined

From 1895 to 1920, Albert Kahn created a stunning garden world on land acquired over time. Kahn’s “landscape collection” combines an English garden, a Japanese mountain garden, and a Vosges forest garden. It was registered as a historical monument in 2015.

That same year, construction began on a new building from architect Kengo Kuma, inspired by Kahn’s deep connection with Japan. The design engages the building and garden in meaningful dialogue using an element from traditional Japanese architecture: the engawa, an in-between space linking indoor and outdoor.

Here, the reimagined engawa connects the various elements throughout the site while showcasing the relationship between interior and exterior, and between city, museum, and garden.

The museum entryway becomes an intermediary space that bridges the adjacent streets with the entrance to the gardens. This public space is transformed into a landscaped street, forming the threshold to the museum gardens beyond and expanding Kahn’s collection outward into the neighborhood.

Inside the grounds, the engawa runs along the museum building like a veranda, offering innumerable ways to step into the garden. Large stone slabs called kutsu-nugi-ishi, or “shoe removal stones,” emerge periodically from the engawa to form stepping stones down to garden trails.

The path through the gardens is meditative and initiatory, punctuated by rich textures and abundant vegetation to create contrasting landscapes. Here and there, striking, tiered layers of greenery amplify the garden’s verticality.