Mirror in the Mirror is a collaboration between the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and the photographer Erieta Attali, who have worked together for over twenty years. Their joint work reflects a shared understanding of architecture, space, and visual perception: in both Kuma’s buildings and Attali’s photographs, interior and exterior spaces merge and dissolve into one another. Both are united by the idea that spatial experience is fleeting, shaped by the rhythm of the day and the seasons, making built space a medium that expands into the landscape and encourages people to question their notion of spatial boundaries. Attali, who began her career as an archaeology and landscape photographer, focuses on the relationship between architecture and the ever-changing environment; space and landscape are reordered through her visual language, so that her photographs go beyond documenting architecture.

The book is published by Hartmann Books in English, designed by Koma Amok, and measures 20 x 28 cm. According to the publisher, it runs to 268 pages with around 140 illustrations and 6 drawings, bound in a thread knot binding on thin paper and housed in a portfolio box. Kuma’s architectural sketches and quotes are embedded between Attali’s photographs, offering insights into work created over the past twenty years. Barry Bergdoll, head of the art history department at Columbia University and former curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, contributes an essay; the volume also includes texts by Mimmo Jodice. In this book, Attali interprets Kuma’s architectural ideas through photography.

Among the projects represented are the Glass Wood House in New Canaan, USA; the Mediation House in Krun, Bavaria, Germany; the Water Glass House in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan; Sunny Hills in Tokyo, Japan; and the Coeda House in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Alongside these better-known buildings, the selection includes smaller, never-before-shown works from Europe, the United States, and Japan.