Given Tokyo’s high land prices and laws that regulate construction on small sites, most clients wish to make the most of the space available to them. It is no exaggeration to say that architects make their own rules and solve the conundrums that arise with clients as if solving a puzzle.
The alternative space Hue plus is a series of facilities seamlessly integrated into the photo studio, where the visual expression of ‘eating’ is the particular subject of photographic exploration. Unlike an ordinary photo studio that is a closed box to be used merely as a shooting equipment, Hue plus is an office space, a cafe, a library and a kitchen that the users have control over, making them feel like staying longer for its own sake and enjoy the experience. Hue plusembraces its users by enabling them to change it as they feel fit. The relaxed atmosphere offers further possibilities of open and vibrant communications to stir up the users’ creative minds and fresh ideas about ‘eating’.
A building that sits in mute repose, like an impassive signpost.
In seeking to realize such a building, which becomes part of the scenery around it, acting as part of the backdrop for passers-by, I felt that I needed to create an exterior that was distinct from the standard architectural lexicon.
Visiondivision was invited by the Japan Design Association and Designboom to produce a piece of architecture as a tribute to the eccentric 18th century painter Ito Jakuchu to be exhibited at the Tokyo Designers Week. In the beginning, the world was untainted nature; creatures could find water in the rivers and the lakes and find shelter in the woods, the grass and within the earth itself.
The alternative space Hue+ is a series of facilities seamlessly integrated into the photo studio, where the visual expression of ‘eating’ is the particular subject of photographic exploration. Unlike an ordinary photo studio that is a closed box to be used merely as a shooting equipment, Hue+ is an office space, a cafe, a library and a kitchen that the users have control over, making them feel like staying longer for its own sake and enjoy the experience.
The competition for the New Tokyo National Stadium which began in July and ended in September 2012 asked for a proposal for the 2020 Olympic Games. We made a design whose intention was to allow people to feel very close to the activity within, to the athletes and football players, to the exciting atmosphere in which the spectator is involved directly in the games. At the same time we also wanted to design a space which was flexible, that could accommodate the wide range of sports intended for this kind of building, by focusing specifically on circulation that would make movement easy and fluid. In front of the large stadium area there is a main public space that creates a new Festival Sport Plaza, whose roof protects people from rain and provides shadow in the hot summer months. The space was intended to be used for exterior and extraneous events like concerts, oobon parties, political campaigns, small sporting activities, fairs, and many others.
“Overcome the disadvantage of the land condition, turn it into the beauty of the architecture”
When the client found this land, we were asked to give an advice. It was a strip of pentagonal land facing west with only a pair of parallel boundary lines. Because of this land condition, it was valued lower, almost 30% larger than regular priced lands for the same cost. Even though, the land was such an odd shape, we were sure that we could create a house with more freedom from the extra space by giving a careful attention to improve the land’s disadvantages such as an angle, orientation, height limitation and confined facade. Therefore we suggested the client to go for it.
Article source: Kiyotoshi Mori & Natsuko Kawamura / MDS
Due to Tokyo’s high land prices, plot sizes become reduced as a matter of necessity. What’s more, buildings often become even smaller in order to satisfy strict building regulations. As a result, architects working on residential projects in the Japanese capital are universally concerned with how to maximize the physical area of these buildings within a limited space, as well as how to produce a feeling of openness and breadth. Many clients are also concerned with how to provide adequate storage within a small space, and how to create a comfortable environment.
Located at the basement level of Shibuya’s PARCO Part 1 Building, we have designed the interior and exterior of the store for new fashion label ‘my panda’. From ‘Smiles’, the company which created brands such as ‘PASS THE BATON’ and ‘giraffe’, this label is based on a ‘two-tone’ theme. We wanted to design a store which could become iconic to the fashion label such that it may be easily recognized.
Daikanyama T-Site is a village like complex for Tsutaya, a giant in Japan’s book, music, and movie retail market. Located in Daikanyama, an up-market but relaxed, low-rise Tokyo shopping district, it stands alongside a series of buildings designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki.
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