It is a compact site located at the most innermost place of the new subdivision. Despite this compact site, dare not to build a building on full of the site, securing lighting and ventilation by securing a private open space on the south, making connection with the external space. In addition, we planned to be a rich approach even on a small site by keeping it low relative to the road and placing it in a deep eaves below the entrance.
DUCCIO GRASSI ARCHITECTS had renewed and transformed the spaces of the MAX MARA flagship store of Tokyo, in the exclusive area of Aoyama.
In a corner position between Aoyama-Dori and Kotto-Dori, this space of over 400 square meters has one impressive facade and great visibility.
The exterior of the building, covered in pink granite and characterized by two large columns has been completely redesigned and made more current and consistent with the values of the brand. The design of this exterior has taken up the challenge of maintaining a unitary aspect without entering in conflict with the upper part of the building in which it is inserted in. The windows have been eliminated, the lower windows modified or closed, the columns incorporated in the new colored glass greige coating.
A café situated on the 2nd floor of the Sogetsu Kaikan in Minato ward, Tokyo. Its original interiors are still intact from when they were designed by Kenzo Tange in 1977. It also boasts some very picturesque views of the Akasaka Estate, the Korekiyo Takahashi Memorial Park, and the stone garden created by Isamu Noguchi. In order to preserve these features, the walls and ceilings have been left untouched, no new wall fixtures have been set up, and only the floor and furniture have been redesigned. The “stream” flooring designed by nendo has been fitted throughout to smoothly unify the bi-partitioned space. The sides of the counters have been fitted with same said material, and the flooring tile jointers on the counters and stairs have all also been aligned with those on the floor, so as to create and even greater sense of consistency within the room. Also, the tops of the counters have been finished in a gloss black to match the grey mirror finish of the ceiling. In the lounge area, the original “tulip chairs” by Eero Saarinen have been repaired for reuse with a new matted black paint finish. The accompanying “tulip tables” have also been repaired, and their tabletops have been fitted with the same mirror material as the ceiling. The result is an interior design that brings out the innate properties and merits of the original space as it was first conceived.
It is a cultural exchange facility built in front of Ota station in Gunma prefecture.
Ota City has a population of about 220,000 people, and the number of users of the station exceeds 10,000 people in a day. But few people walk in front of the station, shopping streets are quiet. To pioneer breakthroughs for such a situation prevailing throughout Japan, it is the purpose of construction to bring life back in front of Ota Station.
Therefore, for people to easy to walk though and stop by, we aimed for architecture that the town is continuing to the inside.
The Sogetsu Kaikan in Minato ward, Tokyo, was designed by one of the pioneers of modern Japanese architecture, Kenzo Tange. It was constructed in 1977, and also known for housing Tange’s own offices on its 10th floor. It is primarily characterized by its half-mirrored curtain wall exterior, reflecting the greenery from the Akasaka Estate opposite, and its planar construction, allowing for a clear and unobstructed view by diagonally cutting through its L-shaped lines of flow. Considering these characteristic features, we have sought to come up with “a design inspired by the exterior aesthetics”, rather than “a design based on interior functionality” so often seen in office buildings. Firstly, the interior layout has been designed to fit in with the L-shaped lines of flow and diagonal shafts to as great an extent as possible, and the exterior curtain wall has also been replicated indoors. As the original aluminium window frames were special-ordered and their dies and molds are now out of production, these aluminium window frames have been extruded anew. We experimented widely with a variety of IR reflecting films and paints in order to precisely recreate the colouring of the original half-mirrored exterior and sashes. And in order to accentuate the reflection of the half-mirror, the flooring material has been fitted symmetrically in relation to the curtain wall. The result is an interior design that allows one to get a strong sense of the character and form of the building as a whole.
This is the residence in the commuter town in the suburb of Tokyo. We constructed the studio where our client could study and dye kimonos, her chief hobby, as the center of the house; also, we tried to provide the place to communicate and interact, accepting foreign students after her kids leave the home. The shape of the building plot is a huge square (9100*9100), and it slopes and spreads north and south. Because of the slating ground, a private space was settled in the northern part commanding a fine view. An open ceiling studio is connected to a kitchen, so that allows the client to have a big party as she desires. Considering when she ages in the future, her bedroom, a study room, and other infrastructures are placed on the first floor. Other single rooms, a living room, and a Japanese style room are on the second floor; moreover, you can enjoy a fine prospect with Mt. Fuji from the living room. When we look at this project from a different perspective, the most significant characteristic of this construction is the stainless steel fence which surrounds the building. By creating the space which makes the border between the inside and the outside of the building vague, the inside thereof is difficult to see from the outside. In terms of security, significant effects can be also expected. A moire pattern is generated since the stainless steel is doubled, and it makes people feel as if they are in the inside even if they are in the outside.Being swayed by the wind, the stainless steel fence shines and causes a great variety of the moire patterns. The angle and strength of the light are certainly changed by time – morning, afternoon, evening, and night. The change of the light creates not only gripping moire patterns, but also gives different and diverse impressions to the house. This is the place where people can closely enjoy the transitions of time, seasons, and climates through the house.
The renovation project of the old storage of the wholesale liquor shop was built in 1911 in Ohara Isumi Chiba Japan. The shop was abandoned for some years and the storage also since the woman who was the mother of the owner was passed away. The storage was not good condition as some beams collapsing, pillars were eaten by termites or leaning. It was impossible to start using directly.
The site is a long shape facing the 4-lane highway on the north side and 4 meters wide on the south side, giving void to the townscape along these roads. The plan described here is building a dental clinic specializing in aesthetic dentistry and pediatric dentistry here.
Considering the empiric position of the patient, we feel that a dental clinic should be abele to contain various parts according to the different activities. For example, reception → waiting → tooth brushing corner → treatment room → X-ray → treatment room → waiting → payment. In order to translate the act of movement into the structure of architecture itself, we considered each rooms of the clinic as the destinations and transposed “→” into an aisle connecting them together. Specifically, in order to conform to the directionality of the site, a long aisle is set at the center of the building, and necessary rooms that become destinations are arranged on both sides of the building. In the aisle, processing was done on the ceiling surface by whitening the surface deceives the human perception of the real size of the room and ends as a door that allows us to feel the extensibility of the space. As a result, the whole planned as a sensory outside space where the state of light changes throughout the day. The sensory outside which changes according to the natural light installed in the center of the building has connection with each room, thereby preventing excessive consideration on privacy from which leads to a sense of limitation.
The site is a residential area located in the urbanization control area near Nagoya city, development by developers is rapidly progressing around. The clients are a married couple just before the retirement age and his mother who lived there for many years, and the 50 – year – old wooden house where the owner lives at the time was built on the site. The requirements from them were each private rooms and a large floor area beyond the current situation.
email
Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
