Fontworks Inc. moved its headquarters from Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, to Minato-ku, Tokyo, for the purpose of providing further communication business and expanding our business. Along with this, Fontworks worked on the design of a new office with PRISM DESIGN, an international design studio in Base Shanghai and Japan.
In 2018, when Fontworks celebrated our 25th anniversary, have formulated a tag line called “Character More Freely” with all our employees, and have been developing specific business activities over the past year. The fonts that Fontworks have consistently provided since our founding are also evolving at a tremendous speed in the environment in which they are used. From paper media to the on-screen era, there are also many such as AR / VR. It extends to dimensions. In addition to creating a typeface that is optimal for the environment in which characters are displayed, it is essential to develop technologies that take into account the environment of the customer being used.Even in the new office, Fontworks have set keywords such as “Fusion of analog and digital”, “fusion of creative and engineering”, “work while playing”, and “collaboration among employees” so that we can embody “Character More Freely” Made. The history cultivated in the past 25th anniversary, the future to be shaped in the next 25 years.
Hara house is located in the agricultural village of Tsurugasone, formerly known as Nakanoshima, in Nagaoka city, Niigata prefecture. The village is in the conventional Japanese village style wherein, a single estate contains an assemblage of buildings and farmland, that are inter-dependent on each other. This village is facing the same problems that many of Japan’s villages are facing; a rural decline, where new self-contained buildings superimpose themselves onto the land and create a larger and larger separation between the residents.
Eventually, the clients will inherit their large family estate which similarly, already has many built structure upon it such as the main family house, a work shed, parking area and a green house. Thus in this setting, our design direction was to create a building that revitalizes the structures already present onsite and have the potential to adapt to new functions as the need or mood arises.
The guesthouse located in Nishijin Kyoto’s famed weaving district which is in the northwest part of central Kyoto and one of the most traditional areas of the city.
The client manages a cultural salon next to the site, at the same time works as diving instructor, therefore the guesthouse is being used for tourists and the guests of him who comes from far.
Nanatsuji is a small three-storey wood framed structure sheathed in darkly matted, metal siding. It is a new member to the Kojiya community, a friendly estuary town in South Tokyo. In this slow but lively townscape, with sea breezes on the nose, one might easily forget this is part of one of the world’s largest megalopolises. Bright and bustling with shoppers by day but a muted, gently lit refuge in the evening, it was a place to build with careful consideration for its history and community character.
“The family’s pleasant sense of distance seen ahead of the low cost housing and sense of distance with a town”
This housing is a home in Iiduka where I’m a producer and am a designer.
Man of design office duties doesn’t have enough money. But though I offered a real estate and housing, I usually felt a doubt in contradiction one doesn’t possess. When some land was found in localness Higashimurayama-shi and the budget set was done on probation while spending such every day, cost per tsubo was to cut 600,000, and the income and expenditure plan they seem to reach somehow was being seen.
The site is in Kariya city, Aichi Prefecture in Japan, and there are many apartments to the concentration of affiliated companies of major automobile manufacturers in the surrounding area. On the other hand, many green spaces and fields like farm left for development by the Green Land Law remain. The owner has lived in this area for many years and has long been a landowner who owns this site and many others.
This house is located in a residential area in Kyoto City, Japan. It is not a historical district, rather modern houses, old wooden houses and middle size apartment houses are lined up side by side. 500 meter mountain range opens to the north and west side and cityscape faces to the south and east side. Therefor it has a nice view from the 3rd floor.
This architecture is designed with concrete square tubes piled up in two lines up to four steps. The section of many square tube is the start of this design.
KUAD*, formally known as Kyoto College of Art, was founded in 1977.
The old “Boutenkan”** was the original headquarters in the main campus of the old College, and this new architecture is, in fact, situated in the same location. The old alumni remember clearly, the impressive three-storied building with brown brick exterior that once stood there.
When the College was first opened, the old “Boutenkan” was used as the headquarters mainly by the administration body. But they moved to another building of classrooms as time went on, to be among classrooms. Now, this new building was aimed to be the core center of the current University: first to rebuild “Boutenkan” as the headquarters facility: and second, its well-planned plaza on the rooftop to serve as a focal place for the students to enjoy.
The place is a suburb of Sendai city in Tohoku Japan. It is a roadside location along a national road. Connecting information and people is thought to be important about the new business. That’s why most shared offices are located in well-accessed areas to create a business community, in Tokyo. As a different approach, we have designed a shared office that moves objects and people, taking advantage of the characteristics of the building and the location. We thought about connecting with the share office function, leaving the warehouse function and the delivery yard function that the building originally had. Users have shared offices that can do everything from business start-up, production, and delivery of goods. The operation of the shared office is a logistics company in Sendai City and supports logistics operations that take into account even overseas expansion. It is a facility that aims to expand into the world from Sendai city in Tohoku Japan, a local city.
I designed a long counter table around an open kitchen, inspired by Japanese Sushi/Teppan-yaki counter, giving diners a front-row view of all the chefʼs activities. It is like a theater, and I named it “TEATRO” that means “theater” in Italian. I designed indirect lighting with a steel grid over the counter table, so the lighting shines onto the basement floor like sunshine. A wall of steel shelves between the restaurant and the bar sometimes interrupts and sometimes passes the view to each diner, so the wall forms a tie, whilst cutting space. I tried to design a pleasing space where elegance and relaxation come together well, by using some materials which are rustic but also elegant and simple in design.