Woods of Net in Ninotaira, Japan by Tezuka Architects + TIS & PARTNERS

Article source: Tezuka Architects + TIS & PARTNERS

This is a permanent pavilion for a net artist, Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam. The artist knitted the net entirely by hands, which is designed for children to crow in, roll around, and jump on the net.  It was easy for us to see the artwork being outside even when it cannot be exposed to rain or ultraviolet light. We wanted to design a space as soft as the forest where the boundary between outside and inside disappears. The space attracts people like campfire. The children play inside of the net just as fire and parents sit around and lay on the woods.

Night View (Images Courtesy Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA)

• Architects: Tezuka Architects + TIS & PARTNERS
• Project name: Woods of Net
• Location: Ninotaira, Hakone Kanagawa, Japan/inside of Hakone Open-air Museum
• Photos: Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA
• Lighting Designer: Masahide Kakudate/Lighting Architect&Associates
• Client: Hakone Open-Air Museum

Exterior View (Images Courtesy Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA)

• Project team: Takaharu+Yui Tezuka/Tezuka Architects, Norihide Imagawa(structure design)/TIS&Partners, Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam(artwork)/Interplay Design&Manufacturing
• Collaborator: Masahide Kakudate/Masahide Kakudate Lighting Architect&Associates(lighting design), Soichiro Tsukamoto/Soichiro Tsukamoto Architecte De Paysages(lamdscape design)
• Artist: Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam(artwork)/Interplay Design&Manufacturing
• Use: Artwork
• Site Area: 1875m2
• Building Area: 528.5m2
• Total Floor Area: 528m2
• Max height: 12m
• Long side of oval: 34m
• Short side of oval: 23.5m
• Design period: 2008.5-2008.12
• Construction period: 2009.1-2009.5
• Completion: 2009. May
• Cost: undisclosed
• Material of structure: Douglas Fir

Images Courtesy Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA

The structure is entirely composed of timbers without any metal parts. 320 cubic meter of timber members are used and there is nothing same among all the 589 members.  The latest structural program was developed for the pavilion, but the joint techniques are derived from thousands years old Japanese wooden temples in Nara and Kyoto.  As long as the proper maintenance is done, it is capable of existing over 300 years. This is the oldest and the latest structure in the world.

Images Courtesy Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA

Cutting Edge Structural Analysis

The entire structure was designed on a computer. The data was loaded into a CNC milling machine capable of carving shapes to the precision of 0.1millimeters. The carpenters then finished the pieces, lifted them by a crane, and joined them utilizing the very same techniques carpenters used four hundred years ago.

Images Courtesy Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA

The structural engineer, Professor Imagawa, developed a cutting-edge structural analysis program specifically for the pavilion. The program analyzed this new bending joint system overcome the variable characteristics of timbers. Through his analysis, he proved the traditional technique was structurally sound.

Images Courtesy Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA

Detail of Joints

The members are solely connected by dowel pins and wedges, this Japanese traditional method could not be employed a few years ago under the strict japanese building codes.Each member has a different size in order to carry different kinds of loads from different directions. Each member has a complex shape so that water easily drains to prevent the wood from warping.

Images Courtesy Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA

Exterior View (Images Courtesy Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA)

Exterior View (Images Courtesy Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA)

Images Courtesy Katsuhisa Kida/FOTOTECA

Tags: Japan, Ninotaira

Categories: Pavilion, Performing Arts Center

This entry was posted on Friday, June 17th, 2011 at 6:36 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.