Award-winning architectural office, spatial practice, completed a site-specific light installation in Tokushima, Japan; titled Indigo Waterfall. The permanent fiber optic lighting installation is debuted at the Tokushima LED Art Festival 2016 flanking both sides of Kasuga Bridge creating the perception of indigo ink spilling into Shinmachi River.
Inspired by both the past and present industries of Tokushima City, the designer merges and highlights the importance of both industries in its development of the city. Tokushima City was built by the indigo dye industry; big indigo storehouses occupied both waterfronts surrounding Kasuga Bridge where white walls and blue stones were reflected onto the river. Tracing back to its history, the Indigo Waterfall gives new remembrance to the surrounding indigo storehouses by utilizing Tokushima City’s new thriving LED industry and its surrounding natural beauty. By connecting light, nature, local culture and people; the installation creates a new image for Tokushima City.
Indigo Waterfall bridges the past, future, and evolution of industrial development.
This house offers the family a life to live closer to green. Living room is that the sash is completely full open, and has a space to feel the green integrated north garden and south garden. On 2nd floor balcony, planters are placed randomly, which makes a series of green together with green in front and back of the building. These plants help to cool down the temperature , block sunshine and offer privacy for residents. Planted zone with a vertical ties forms a favorable environment for the residential and region.
“dialogue” between the old and the new “substance” This is a house to be built in Tokyo, for a movie producer couple. This architecture is consisted by combining L-shaped blocks of reinforced concrete and sequential frames of box-shaped engineer-wood. We put bedrooms, film archive and galley in solid concrete part for security, and living room in engineer-wood part for openness. As material that consist an open space that is 6m in height, 5.5m in width, 14m in depth, we choose thin engineer-wood (38mmx287mm). Main theme for this architecture is to bring out a sense of mass and material, which were denied by modern architecture which pursued “white, flat wall” as a style. We intentionally left the wood grain of mold on the surface of concrete, and choose textured stones and irons. It goes without saying that a house is a relaxing place. A house like a white-cube, surrounded by flat, white walls everywhere, gives a person very abstract image. But that image could only be sensed when we use intellective part of our brain. The problem is that we’re not all-intellective-creature. For the people like this client, who do enough intellectual labor on a daily basis, white-cube would only bring sense of fatigue. The role of architecture, especially the ones for living, is to soothe the sensory side of people, not to stimulate the intellectual side. That’s my take. Sure, intellectual living would have got some meaning as a fashion at the time when modern architecture was born. However, now that it became a part of everyday life, its identity has been lost. We have to examine whether our approach is rational or not every time we build architecture.
This building was planned as the clinic which supported a medical connection with the people from a local child to the elderly.
A client is the doctor who performed medical care to support an area as a family doctor for a long time in this ground. The front road of the site became the attending school road of the elementary school, and the building which had children feel friendly feeling was demanded.
Near the base of the Manazuru Peninsula, on a hilly topography that slopes toward the south, the site is located where the hill’s inclination eases to form a shoulder. Beyond the enclosing greenery composed mainly of broadleaf trees, the expanse of the Pacific Ocean quietly extends to the horizon. The client’s request was for a guesthouse for the family and friends to spend their weekends together.
This was an architectural project for the design of Daimaru Kyoto, Gion Machiya, as a part of Daimaru’s 300th anniversary for its foundation. We also conducted the interior design of < Hermès Gion-mise> as the first shop opened in this traditional Japanese house.
The site is located along Hanamikoji Street, which goes through the center of Gion area in Kyoto city with traditional townscape. We renovated and transformed a town house previously used as a tea house/ residence into the store.
The following renovation project aimed to transform a botanical garden into a museum of craft works. Deliverables included a multi-purpose space with a kitchen, a dining space, and a stage for special exhibitions and performances, such as concerts and plays.
Walking down a street off Kawahara-Gojo in Kyoto, you will find an old Japanese-style house. The house is over a hundred years old, built in the Meiji era. Giyōfū architecture was the method the master-carpenter applied, copying Western architecture but using Japanese traditional wooden techniques. After being used as print shop and furniture store over the decades, the house was renovated to a co-working space called “MATERIAL KYOTO”.
Nara province where the site located has 8 world heritage architectures. So this city has a lot of history. On the other side, the site is located at the center of the industrial residence in Yamatokoriyama city. Surrounding is a special sight with simple and no color factories. This project is to reform an old kindergarten at that site.
Article source: Jun Mitsui & Associates Inc. Architects
Ginza is renowned around the world as a commercial hotspot in Tokyo. Marronnier street in Ginza is an especially bright street lined with great buildings each with their own individuality and architectural design. We felt that the De Beers Ginza Building should express the brightness and the glow of Ginza at the same time. For the design, what we imagined firstly was an image of gently curving streams of light. Like a light ribbon being held above the ground, or the aurora that changes its colour and shape continuously, we thought it should have a bright and graceful form with curved lines that look like a women’s beautiful silhouette. We decided to brighten the stainless steel to appear like a diamond glitter along the silhouette to give it a sensitive look. The building has been constructed with stainless steel being rolled out in a curved shape. Each stainless steel surface has a special finish, so the appearance reflects the light of the sky and the town sensitively and changes its appearance throughout the day with the movement of the sun. At the same time, the architectural expression shows infinite changes depending on the position it is seen from. Ginza has always been on the frontier of design, adopting changes over time to form the town. De Beers Ginza is a part of that tradition and our design is an expression of this ever changing town on the frontier of architectural design.
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