Asakusa Culture and Tourist Center in Tokyo, Japan by Kengo Kuma & Associates

Article source: Kengo Kuma & Associates

In the corner premise of just 326㎡ across Kaminari-mon Gate, the building was required to accommodate plural programs such as tourist information center, conference room, multi-purpose hall and an exhibition space.

The center extends Asakusa’s lively neighborhood vertically and piles up roofs that wrap different activities underneath, creating a “new section” which had not existed in conventional layered architecture.

Image Courtesy Takeshi Yamagishi

• Architects: Kengo Kuma & Associates
• Project: Asakusa Culture and Tourist Center
• Location: Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan
• Design team: Kengo Kuma, Teppei Fujiwara, Masafumi Harigai, Okayama Naoki, Kiyoaki Takeda, Masaru Shuku, Erina Kuryu, Hiroaki Saito
• Structural engineering: Makino Structural design
• Electrical engineering: Kankyo Engineering inc.
• Mechanical engineering: Kankyo Engineering inc.
• Site supervision: Kengo Kuma, Teppei Fujiwara, Masafumi Harigai, Masaru Shuku, Erina Kuryu

Image Courtesy Takeshi Yamagishi

• Lighting design : Izumi Okayasu Lighting design
• Curtain design : Ando Yoko Design
• Sign design : TOKYO PISTOL
• Client: Taito city
• Site area: 326.23sqm
• Built area : 234.13sqm
• Total floor area : 2159.52sqm
• Cost: 1,187,392,500 JPY (tax included)
• Design phase: January 2009~January 2010
• Construction phase: August 2010~ February 2012
• Materials
• Facade : Double glaging glass curtain wall, Wooden Louver
• Roof : Galvalume steel sheet

Image Courtesy Takeshi Yamagishi

Equipments are stored in the diagonally shaped spaces born between the roof and the floor, and by this treatment we could secure large air volume despite its just average height for high-and medium-rise buildings. Furthermore, the roofs not only divide the structure into 8 one-storied houses but also determine the role of each floor. First and second floor has an atrium and in-door stairs, creating a sequence from which you can feel the slope of the two roofs. On 6^th floor, taking advantage of the slanted roof, we were able to set up a terraced floor with which the entire room can function as a theater. As angles of the roofs inclined toward Kaminari-mon and the heights from the ground vary from floor to floor, each floor relates differently to the outside, giving a unique character to each space.

Image Courtesy Takeshi Yamagishi

Image Courtesy Takeshi Yamagishi

Image Courtesy Takeshi Yamagishi

Image Courtesy Takeshi Yamagishi

Elevation

Elevation

Floor plan

Floor plan

Floor plan

Section

Section

Site plan

Wall section

Wall section

Tags: Japan, Tokyo

Category: Cultural Center

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