Meeting Societal Needs: Kitakami Health & Childcare Support Complex

It has been reported that the birth rate in Japan is the lowest it has ever recorded, continuing a steadily decreasing trend over at least two decades. This is a confluence of many factors—decreasing marriages, increasing social security costs and delayed post-pandemic economic recovery are amongst them. Data from 2021 indicates that there are under […]

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Lights, books and greenery at Tamagawa Takashimaya Grand Patio

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Amidst the barrage of virtual commerce, physical spaces have been offering increasingly personal and meaningful spatial experiences. This renovation of Tamagawa Takashimaya, a fifty-year-old shopping centre, transforms its spacious atrium into a cross between a library and an art gallery. It is designed as an intimate enclave that resembles a park in some places and […]

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ESPACE: A home that directs daylight

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This small two-storey, wood-frame house is tucked into a downtown residential neighbourhood in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The clients—a couple with minimalist taste and few superfluous possessions—wanted a private home on the compact lot, one that prioritised a spacious atmosphere over rooms that were physically large. The lot abuts the north side of a narrow road and […]

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Japan’s first hybrid timber high-rise hotel: Royal Park Canvas Sapporo Odori Park

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In Hokkaido Prefecture—the northernmost region of Japan—this hotel was designed as the first hybrid high-rise timber structure of its kind, aiming to reduce use of emission-heavy concrete and place a spotlight on the local wood industry. Beyond simply providing accommodation, the hotel makes a space that welcomes the community, showcases local talent and facilitates an […]

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A ‘citizen co-creation’ model for Uchisaiwaicho 1-Chome District Development

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Located in the heart of Tokyo, the Uchisaiwaicho 1-Chome district is seen as a significant area of the city, one that provides key infrastructural services and is home to a hotel seen as the nation’s state guesthouse. Plans for its development have been underway since 2011 when the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Chiyoda City and the […]

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Mito Civic Center

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Known for the Art Tower Mito designed by Arata Isozaki, the city of Mito will be getting a new civic centre, a complex planned for a site adjacent to the tower. While the Art Tower is a complex of galleries and small halls, each dedicated to art, music or theatre—the new multipurpose centre, with its […]

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Academic Building South in Nanyang Technological University

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This is a proposal for the new business school within Nanyang Technological University’s lush garden campus. The building is laid out on-site in a gently curved form, with abundant greenery and waterscape introduced into the site to reunite with its surroundings. The building has approximately 40,000 square metres of floor area, running 210 metres long, […]

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White U

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This was a single-storeyed house of concrete built on a site a few kilometres away from Shinjuku, the biggest downtown in Tokyo. The name of the house White U came from its horseshoe-shaped plan within a pair of U-shaped walls and its interior filled with spaces of pure white. The peripheral walls had practically no […]

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Sendai Mediatheque

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The Sendai Mediatheque stands along Jozenji street, a main avenue famous for its stately rows of Zelkova trees. Completed in August 2000, five and a half years after the open competition held by Sendai City, this project rises eight storeys from ground level with 21,600 square metres in total floor space. Thirteen tree-like Tube elements […]

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