Yuki Ikeguchi, Executive Vice President and Partner at KKAA Paris
Yuki Ikeguchi, raised in Chiba, Japan, east of Tokyo, merges architecture, nature, and material sensitivity through her focus on place. Her close connection to nature influences her work, emphasising sensory experience and cultural context. Her collaboration with Kengo Kuma reflects her philosophy of harmony with the environment.
H.C. Andersen House
A biophilic approach to architectural experience
Ikeguchi’s approach is rooted in a biophilic sensibility: architecture that evokes nature's emotional and spatial qualities instead of imitating it. Her work heightens awareness of light, texture, and atmosphere through carefully crafted sequences. This is clear in the Earth | Tree exhibition at Copenhagen Contemporary (2026–2027), where architecture becomes an immersive experience. Yuki aims for visitors to explore, question, and enjoy moments of discovery.
The power of architecture
This sensibility extends across her wider practice. Ikeguchi describes architecture as a discipline uniquely capable of bringing diverse elements together to create harmony and improve quality of life. Her own approach begins with nature and understanding how a project can belong to its environment through careful observation of context, culture and the life that surrounds it.
Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Turkey. Image courtesy of OMM: NAARO
Dinesen Ash Natural stair treads at H.C. Andersen House.
“I believe design should exist in harmony with the environment. To me, architecture can bring diverse elements together to improve quality of life.”
Her collaboration with Kengo Kuma is based on designing in relation to place, not imposing. Over two decades and across continents, this approach has become a deeply informed, cross-cultural perspective, now led by her in the Paris office.
Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Turkey. Image courtesy of OMM: NAARO
Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Turkey. Image courtesy of OMM: NAARO
A Danish collaboration begins
In Denmark, the H.C. Andersen Museum by Kengo Kuma & Associates, their first project there and led by Ikeguchi, translates the author's fairy tales into spatial experiences, guiding visitors from a familiar above-ground world to a more imaginative realm below. It also marked the start of a collaboration with Dinesen, highlighting appreciation for the material’s richness, tactility, and quality.
Ikeguchi’s work across projects aims to create architecture that resonates with surroundings, enriches daily life, and fosters deeper connections between people, place, and material.
H.C. Andersen House and garden from above. Image courtesy of Rasmus Hjortshøj - COAST
• 20+ years of international architecture experience.
• Born in Chiba, Japan, she has a design philosophy shaped by early roots in nature.
• Initially into photography, which inspired her interest in space and architecture.
• Joined KKAA over 20 years ago, drawn by Kengo Kuma’s nature-inspired, context-aware design.
• Leads Paris office, focusing on European projects.
• Known for biophilic, sensory, material harmony, and sustainable design.
• Key works (in Denmark): H.C. Andersen Museum, Water Culture House, Earth | Tree at Copenhagen Contemporary.
