Kyoto Komamehan
Project info
Location: Kyoto, JAPAN
Area: 325 sq. ft
Project Type : Retail
Status: Completed, 2021
We were approached to design the flagship store for Komamehan, a traditional Japanese sweets manufacturer in Kyoto, Japan. Komamehan, currently run by third-generation owners, was established in 1908 and has been in sweets manufacturing for over hundred years.
Situated in the historic city of Kyoto, our approach to the design of the store was to marry the traditional sense of materiality with contemporary sensibility, while following the traditional Japanese elements inherited from long-established stores. We sought to express an attractive atmosphere that Kyoto has to offer in terms of comfort and spatial experience by reinterpreting them in a modern way in terms of materiality, scale, and choice of materials. The materials ranged from exposed polished concrete floors with brass inlay, bass wood shelves and stucco plaster mixed with local soil. The goal was to create an experience for the user, as a meander, where the variety of sweets sold slowly reveal themselves. The form of the shelves references the gentle mountains that surround Kyoto, with curvilinear edges and layering to generate contours. This in-turn creates the meander that users traverse.
The construction for the store entailed working with traditional carpenters from the region and it was a challenge to find ones who had the technique to construct the curvilinear shelves. As these are hand-crafted, the process for fabrication involved detailed drawings as well as working closely with the craftsmen to produce the shelving. The brass pieces for the inlay were also custom manufactured by a local fabricator.
Noren, or the traditional curtains that shops have, was also custom stitched by hand in a unique shape by local artisans. We used the Mizuhiki style Noren or the short curtain with a bow shape that bears the name of the shop. The fabric is a cotton-linen composite.
The corners, where the walls meet the ceiling were rounded to allow for the seamless spread of stucco, thus suggesting a sense of expanse for the space this size. Soil from the place was used as one of the ingredients in the stucco, making the project grounded in place. Several iterations were made to test the colour and texture of the plaster to achieve the perfect backdrop for the display. The muted palette for the shop, helps enhance the product that comes in vibrant and colourful packaging.
https://komamehan.jp/
Producer :冨永博嗣(豆富本舗)Hirotsugu Tominaga
CD/AD/D : 小山唯香 Yuika Koyama
photographer : 衣笠奈津実 Natsumi Kinugasa
Fabric:有限会社中むら / NAKAMURA inc.
Web : 株式会社 エヴォワークス EVOWORX Co.,Ltd
Construction：株式会社 IWAKI STYLE
Medicine Sans Frontiers | Doctors Without Borders
Project info
Location: New Delhi, INDIA
Area: 18,000 sq. ft
Project Type : Office
Status: Completed, 2020
Alliance Française de Delhi
Project info
Location: New Delhi, INDIA
Area: 2,875 sq. ft
Project Type : Institutional
Status: Completed, 2020
We were invited to design several key interior spaces, including the Front desk, Corridor and Café, for the Alliance Française (AFD), a premier French language learning and cultural institute located in a prominent institutional neighborhood of New Delhi, India. The building that Alliance Francaise occupies was designed by the well-known practices of Stephane Paumier Architects and ABRD Architects, and it is considered one of the foremost examples of contemporary architecture in India’s capital city.
The three spaces we designed are almost always part of the user’s experience of the AFD, regardless of one’s purpose in visiting the building. They are typically accessed, both physically and visually, in strict succession.
We hoped to tie the spaces through a common string of materiality and colour, as well as through French and Indian cultural references. Our choices of materials were based on their properties’ resilience, low maintenance, and longevity. The materials were also chosen to harmoniously integrate our design intervention with the existing building. We proposed to use perforated metal sheets and birch wood slats as a way to continue the aesthetic language of the existing building. Naturally, we modified the application of these materials to reflect our design ideas.
Front Desk – Our proposal for the front desk was to develop individual pods for admissions councilors so as to provide them with visual and acoustic privacy while nevertheless still creating the appearance of connection between spaces. The pods were conceived as a sinuous landscape of free-form objects, allowing for the natural flow of movement while still maintaining a central larger space for gathering. The custom-fabricated pods included a fixed pedestal worktable and visitor seating, as well as personal storage for individual councilors. They were constructed with wood slats and acoustic fabric of varying colours. Across the space, the pods were interconnected with birch ply and perforated metal storage units.
Corridor – We continued the use of powder-coated perforated metal sheets in the corridor. We proposed to clad the walls with this sheet such that it wrapped up the ceiling, thereby providing a low maintenance surface for the corridor. The ceiling primarily acts as an infrastructure piece to connect the front desk to the cafe while serving other rooms. Meanwhile, all Communication / IT / Security and HVAC systems ran above this central corridor. Signage and lighting was also introduced through this ceiling system. Cove lights, as well as spotlights on tracks, were introduced against the stone-clad wall of the auditorium to service the mounting of temporary exhibitions.
Additionally, we reinterpreted and designed Le Corbusier’s ‘Open Hand’ sculpture in the form of a mural in concrete. Le Corbusier’s work in India can be regarded as one of the most powerful examples of Indo-French cultural synthesis and the ‘Open Hand’ in many ways stands as a perfect symbol of the AFD’s mission of cultural exchange.
Le Café – The café was conceived as a landscape conducive to interaction and dialogue, rather than as a run-of-the-mill coffee shop. The combination of the perforated metal sheets and birch wood slats took the forms of benches folding out from walls and paneling. The colours of the metal mesh and paneling were kept light to increase reflected illumination. Plants were introduced in the space, drawing a direct association with the outdoors just beyond the café’s windows.
We introduced a central island table in free-form design, which works along varying heights from low to high and is conducive to increased interactivity amongst the café’s users.
A centralized hanging track system for lighting was created which negotiates the coffered ceiling and caters to several kinds of lighting requirements. This included hanging pendants for tables, general lighting, and movable spots for walls. The walls in the café are used as means of highlighting colours introduced in hanging artwork.
アライアンス・フランセーズ・デリー
我々は、インドのニューデリーにある著名なフランス語学習・文化施設であるアライアンス・フランセーズ（AFD）主催の招待コンペを経て、フロントデスク、コリドー、カフェなど、主に３つのスペースの内装改修を設計施工として担当した。既存建物（2004年竣工）は、Stephane Paumier ArchitectsとABRD Architectsによって設計されたもので、インドの首都における現代建築の代表的な例の一つである。
既存建物が表現しているフランスとインドの文化の反映、ハイテクとハイクラフトの融合といったコンセプトを継承しつつ、これまで分断されていた３つのスペースを共通のマテリアルと色彩により連続した空間としてデザインした。マテリアルは、金属メッシュとシラカバのルーバーとし、その寸法を調整することで既存建物がもつリズムや解像度と呼応→調和→統合できるインターベンションを目指した。
フロントデスク
アドミッション・カウンセラーのための個々のポッドを開発し、視覚的にも音響的にもプライバシーを確保しながらも、空間のつながりを作り出すことを目指した。ポッドは、自由な形をしたオブジェクトの連続したランドスケープとして構想され、執務に集中出来るプライベートな空間から、パブリックな中央の大きな集いのスペースに向けてゆるやかにグラデーションを形成している。特注で製作されたポッドは、作業台と来客用の座席、そしてカウンセラーのための収納で構成され、木製ルーバーと金属メッシュ及び様々な色のアコースティックファブリックで仕上げた。
コリドー
コリドーは、フロントデスクとの連続感を強調するためパウダー塗装の有孔鋼板シートを用いた。天井を包み込むように壁を覆うことで、メンテナンス性に配慮した。通信・IT・セキュリティ・HVACシステムなどの設備は天井隠蔽とし、サインおよび照明は天井システムを介して設置された。またコリドーは仮設展示を行うギャラリーとして機能するように、間接照明やスポット照明を計画した。
また、ル・コルビュジエの彫刻「オープンハンド」を再解釈し、コンクリート壁画として計画した。ル・コルビュジエのインドでの作品は、インドとフランスの文化的統合の最も強力な例の一つであり、「オープンハンド」は、様々な意味でAFDの文化交流の使命のシンボルとなる。
カフェ
ありふれた喫茶店としてではなく、交流と対話のためのランドスケープとして構想した。マテリアルは、有孔鋼板シートとシラカバ羽目板の組み合わせを基本とし、固定座席やカフェカウンターを計画した。中央のアイランドテーブルは有機的な形状とし、ベンチの座面が折れ曲がり、腰壁となり、ハイカウンターとなるように様々なレベルをつくり、利用者の対話を促す計画とした。
また、既存天井を活かして照明のためのハンギングトラックシステムを設置し、ペンダント照明、一般照明、壁用の可動式スポットなど様々な種類の照明にフレキシブルに対応出来る計画とした。植栽計画は、植栽を立体的かつ屋内外がシームレスにつながるように配置することで、隣接するロディガーデンの自然との連続感を演出した。
Yamaju
Project info
Location: Lake Towada, JAPAN
Area: 1,300 sq. ft
Program: Mixed Use
Status: Completed, 2019
The site is located in the center of the town, facing the main street along the shore of Lake Towada. In the town, an increase of empty houses due to depopulation has been treated as a serious problem. Taking this situation into account, we proposed a framework where sustainable buildings are to be converted into new programs while overall numbers are to be demolished. We believe this project shows a new prototype that can suggest strategies facing shrinking society.
One of the expectations was to create a space that can accommodate flexible and varied usages, particularly functioning as a co-working office and exhibition space during week days as well as café and event space during weekends. In so doing, we generated a large studio space by dismantling the partition walls of the existing building. Our objective was to give a birth to a space that can invigorate users’ creativities through a synergistic effect, which is based upon a seamless connection among the three programs: café, co-working office, and event/exhibition.
We designed an open semi-outdoor space (doma, 土間) that faces the main street. It aims to be used for social activities, such as diverse events and exhibitions. Facing doma, we designed an area for café and office. In order to maintain connectivity between these two spaces, we inserted two L-shaped elements: between the office and event spaces (engawa, 縁側: FL+270mm) and between café and event spaces (hisashi, 庇: FL+2150mm), instead of segregating them. By doing so, we intended to introduce a comprehensive and modulated space that stimulates various kinds of creativities.
敷地は十和田湖畔沿いのメインストリートに面した町の中心部にあり、人口減少に伴い多くの空き家が問題となっている。湖畔沿いの景観保全のため、減築をしながら使用できる建物をコンバージョンする枠組みを提案し、そのプロトタイプとして本プロジェクトに取り組んだ。
平日はシェアオフィス及び展示スペース、週末はカフェ及びイベントスペースとして柔軟に多様な使い方が出来る空間が求められた。既存建物の間仕切壁を解体して大きなワンルーム空間とし、カフェ、展示・イベントスペース、オフィスの３つのプログラムがゆるやかにつながり、相乗効果により様々なアクティビティが生まれる空間を目指した。
メインストリートに面して、広々とした半屋外の土間を計画して展示・イベントスペースとして様々なアクティビティを発信出来る場とし、土間を介してオフィス、カフェを計画した。異なるプログラムが交わる部分には、緩衝帯として２つのL型エレメントを挿入した。オフィスとイベントスペースの境界には縁側（FL+270㎜）、カフェとイベントスペースの境界には庇（FL+2150㎜）を設けることで、空間に抑揚を与え多様なアクティビティが誘発される場とした。