For a traditional Japanese restaurant in the underground commercial space under Nagoya Station, we started by analyzing the time transversal components of architecture, themes such as metric, gradation, rhythm and transparency, giving them a contemporary twist. We used one of the primordial volumes to spur the feeling of familiarity, the cube.

Image Courtesy Kotaro Horiuchi Architecture

• Architects: Kotaro Horiuchi Architecture
• Project: Liaison Cubique
• Location: Aichi, Japan
• Program: Restaurant
• Plot Area: 45.6 m²

Image Courtesy Kotaro Horiuchi Architecture

By reducing it to a framed form we were able to provide it with the transparency we wanted to achieve. This thin frame, and the graduation of the cube size and frame thickness, creates much like a veil for the facades, one that extends inside to the walls and to the ceiling, to craft a unified whole.

This veil effect is achieved just by using sheer numbers of the framed cube, providing the intended transparency with a small degree of translucency. To improve the familiar environment, we took up a vernacular element of the Japanese culture the Shoji, which we apply to parts of the wooden lattice.

Image Courtesy Kotaro Horiuchi Architecture

This beautiful paper element will give us a higher translucency in the facades but will also configure the lighting fixtures, which are all bound by the form of the cube.
Depth is also introduced here, as the shoji, set up in different planes, create the dimensional sense of several layers. There is the feeling of a boundary, one that creates a sense of reserve and privacy for the restaurants customers and a sense of curiosity and enthrallment to passersby.

Image Courtesy Kotaro Horiuchi Architecture

On the other hand the wooden lattice can also have a hard horizontal plane, that will act as a shelf, for storage and décor.
Finally, we introduced the furniture, following the same precepts as we set in beginning. It is the furniture that will introduce the metric and rhythm into the composition and the ease of use these themes allow – all the circulation is straightforward, giving a great sense of organization and functionality to the project.