Archinect

Renzo Piano releases first concept designs for The Center for Arts & Innovation in Boca Raton, Florida

2024-04-19T18:30:00-04:00

Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) has released early concept designs for The Center for Arts & Innovation project in Boca Raton, Florida. The firm was announced as the winner of an international RFP process to imagine the Center in September of last year.

As stated in an announcement today, the new campus aims to foster the convergence of arts, education, business, and community in order to develop a new approach to how the world designs, imagines, programs, utilizes, and embraces cultural infrastructure.

Image: Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW)

The project will consist of a three-story building featuring permeable and luminous multi-use spaces. The eastern side of the scheme will include the “main venue,” a large multi-functional, convertible event, exhibition, and performance space designed to merge seamlessly with the outdoor piazza. The main venue is intended to be highly flexible, allowing for a variety of gatherings, exhibitions, performances, and innovative programming....

These are the 16 London home renovations competing for the Don’t Move, Improve! 2024 grand prize

2024-04-19T15:27:00-04:00

New London Architecture’s group of 16 shortlisted entries for the 2024 Don’t Move, Improve! competition has been announced for the annual contest's 14th edition.

Federico Ortiz, Head of Content at NLA, said: “The Shortlist for Don’t Move, Improve! 2024 is an extraordinary showcase of innovation and creativity, offering a unique resource for Londoners who want to reimagine their living spaces and keep calling their neighbourhoods home.”

This year's jury was comprised of Ed Jarvis, Urban Design Manager, London Borough of Camden; Ellie Stathaki, Architecture & Environment Director, Wallpaper* magazine; Jennifer Dyne, Associate, David Kohn Architects; and Marie-Louise Schembri, Sustainability Director at Hilson Moran.

Winners will be announced via a special reception held at the London Centre on May 14th. Keep reading to learn more about what makes each of the shortlisted candidates unique,

A House in East London by Charles Holland Architects

New architecture and design competitions: Olympic Roof Reuse, Homebuilding & Renovating Awards, Masai Mara Conservation Centre, and LIV Hospitality Design Awards

2024-04-19T13:35:00-04:00

If you're in search of new, exciting architecture and design competitions, take a look at the latest curated picks of challenges listed on Bustler. Featured below are four calls seeking the best in homebuilding and residential renovations, innovative proposals for the reuse of the Montreal Olympic Stadium roof, visions for a new Conservation Center at the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, and exceptional hospitality design projects.

For the complete directory of newly listed competitions, click here.

Architect-designed furniture and products at the 2024 Salone del Mobile

2024-04-19T13:13:00-04:00

Milan Design Week’s Salone del Mobile is set to conclude on Sunday, after a week which has seen the unveiling of a wide range of furnishing products.

“It is here that prototypes and innovations in terms of furnishings, domestic spaces, and lifestyles are presented: bedrooms, living and dining areas, entrance corridors, and service areas, outdoor spaces with their furniture and cupboards, upholsterers, tables and chairs set the scene for a narrative that starts with this room, exploring how the way we live is changing and, consequently, home living and furnishing,” the organizers said about the 2024 edition.

This year’s trade fair has included several products designed in collaboration with architects and architectural designers, continuing a trend that we reported on back in previous years, where we showcased work by Zaha Hadid Architects, Kengo Kuma and Associates, and OMA. To highlight this trend once again, our editorial team has collected some of the standout collaborations betw...

Grace Church School Athletic Center by MBB Architects

2024-04-19T12:02:00-04:00

MBB designed the expansion of an existing building for Grace Church School in New York City, adding a new top floor structure for a double-height gymnasium and athletic center.

The highly flexible, 14,000-square-foot addition provides a variety of spaces for different physical activities and academic uses, thoughtfully integrated within the school’s existing footprint. The addition sits on floating acoustic slabs to eliminate noise transmission to classrooms and other academic spaces below.

The design solution creates a warm and inviting interior environment filled with natural light from an array of long skylights and large windows. The new arched-roof steel roof encloses multipurpose, open areas to accommodate courts for team sports as well as all-school gatherings and events. The expansion also adds new offices, locker rooms and storage areas, and a new fitness center, all serving diverse programmatic needs. The new facility’s material palette of glass, wood, and steel structura...

'Loop as Lab': How is Chicago's CBD rebound becoming a model for other American metros?

2024-04-19T11:52:00-04:00

This month, the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) is opening its new Loop as Lab: Reshaping Downtowns exhibition aimed at demonstrating how the city’s famed business district can become a model for other cities in their lingering rebound from the economic ill effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

UC Berkeley opens exhibition on the architectural history of the BART system

2024-04-19T11:44:00-04:00

The College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley has opened an exhibition on the BART’s architectural history. Titled Along the Line: Designing and Planning BART, 1963-1976, the show features the work of architects, landscape architects, and planners involved in the system’s initial design.

The exhibition centers on the desire of BART designers to encourage middle-class passengers commuting from Bay Area suburbs to use public transport to downtown San Francisco. The approach included “aesthetically pleasing” stations in landscapes that would “make a contribution to the community through which [BART] passes.”

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“Despite minimal budgets, many of the designers saw the assignment as an opportunity to make a contribution to the region’s design reputation,” the organizers explain. “They seized on the chance to apply new theories and methods to the type of project they believed would characterize...

A rustic ‘entertainment barn’ in California’s wine country is completed by Malcolm Davis Architecture

2024-04-19T11:31:00-04:00

San Francisco-based Malcolm Davis Architecture (MDa) has completed a rural timber home addition in Northern California Wine Country. Titled Wine Country Barn, the scheme is described by its designers as “a testament to modern architecture’s ability to blend harmoniously with nature.”

Image credit: Joe Fletcher

The project client sought a communal living space for weekends with family and friends. Originally imagined as a large addition to the original house, the projects evolved into an “entertainment barn and guest house addition.” For the scheme’s design, MDa drew inspiration from the region’s rustic barns, while incorporating modern detailing, including locally harvested redwood siding to reflect the area’s history as a mill town.

Image credit: Joe Fletcher

The resulting building features a guest suite, covered parking, and an outdoor kitchen and living space, with interiors by Grant Gibson Interior Design. The design unites the e...

Historic flooding shuts down Dubai, Oman

2024-04-18T19:20:00-04:00

CNN is reporting on the chaotic situation in Dubai as record rainfalls this week have nearly incapacitated the metro, making for some unreal scenes at both its airport and city streets after about 10 inches fell in under 24 hours. Lightning and high winds have also caused damage to several structures.

Timelapse of massive storm in Dubai that caused a biblical flood.#DubaiFlooding #dubairain pic.twitter.com/31dhquZNjH
— BlueGreen Planet (@BluesWaltair) April 18, 2024

This is the largest amount of rain the region has received in 75 years. A lack of adequate floor prevention infrastructure has caused Copenhagen to adopt so-called "sponge city" concepts after a similarly devastating 2011 cloudburst event, and engineers and planners in the Middle East region may follow suit as such events are increasing due to climate change.

At least 18 people have been reported killed in the flooding thus far.

Memorial for J. Robert Oppenheimer by markharris ARCHITECTS, PC

2024-04-18T18:39:00-04:00

Proposal for a memorial to J. Robert Oppenheimer located in White Sands National Park in New Mexico, USA (outside Alamogordo, NM). The project features an Earth Dig (an absence), overseen by the Menace Machine, a solar-powered kinetic machine that projects images onto the interior walls. The circuitous route around the Earth Dig terminates at an altered landscape, signifying that while humanity might terminate itself, nature will find a way to continued, slightly altered with new forms of life. The project is clearly not meant to be soothing or 'calmly contemplative', but somewhat terrifying and intimidating, recognizing that we cannot afford to normalize the notion of nuclear detonation.

Studhorse Mountain by Johnston Architects

2024-04-18T18:26:00-04:00

Set upon the shrub-steppe slope of Studhorse Mountain, the cabin overlooks the Methow Valley with 270-degree views of the Cascade Mountains and Pasayten Wilderness. The client wanted a cabin with a small 1,000 SF footprint befitting the surrounding natural environment. In response, the design focuses on simplicity, efficiency and clarity.

Exposed beams lead along a path paralleling the kitchen, dining and living areas. The subtle roof pitch guides guests to the living room, perched just above the dining area, with expansive views of the valley and mountains. From the living room, an ultimate reading of the cabin’s layout is revealed by the framed views, defined space and combination of clear fir, wood beams and steel posts.

Labor and funding disputes are impelling repair work on the Eiffel Tower

2024-04-18T18:20:00-04:00

To date, only 30% of the tower has been repainted. Adding more than 100 weekly operations to monitor the lead increased annual running costs from €50m to €92m—and may reach a staggering €130m. The unions have also denounced the state of infrastructure, which sees tourists with tickets still queuing for up to three hours.

In February, the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (or SETE), which operates the tower announced losses nearing $2 million as a result of the weeklong strike. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has sparred openly with both France’s culture and tourism ministers about the tower’s lacking historical monument status and security situation on the Champ de Mars. The presence of lead paint and the pandemic have also combined to frustrate repair work efforts. The landmark’s last official full paint job, the nineteenth since it opened, was completed in 2010.

'Architecture as blossoms of the human spirit': Steven Holl reflects on 50 years of practice

2024-04-18T16:13:00-04:00

Steven Holl Architects turns fifty this month. The globe-spanning operation that first began in California in 1974 and formed in New York three years later has been behind some of contemporary architecture’s most celebrated designs with 79 realized works in 13 U.S. states and 15 countries. Now, with five new projects in the pipeline, founder Steven Holl has shared with Archinect some reflections on his journey through architecture to mark the special anniversary milestone as part of a year-long commemoration.

St. Ignatius; concept watercolor from "Steven Holl", courtesy of Phaidon.

“Architecture is a great art with potential to change the way we live. I love drawing and painting ideas for architecture with the hope of public spaces realized as a gift to future generations. Merged with landscapes and ecologically advanced, I am looking forward to architecture as blossoms of the human spirit. As Frank Lloyd Wright said, ‘Buildings, too, are children of the Earth and Sun," he told us wh...

Shanghai Transaction Succeed Office, A Whimsical, Minimalist and Versatile Space by the Huangpu River by One House Design

2024-04-18T15:58:00-04:00

From traditional modular cubicles to today’s open collaborative spaces, humans have never stopped changing the way they work. Designed by the One House team led by founder Fang Lei, the interior of the new office of Shanghai Transaction Succeed Industrial Investment, recently unveiled at Shanghai Yuejie Expo Park, is contemporary, minimalist, smart and efficient, incorporating multiple work scenarios to create a “borderless, parallel workspace”.

“To rethink the office space of the future, to adapt to it and drive business growth, and to highlight uniqueness in commonalities is a vision shared by the client and ourselves. On top of the everyday workspace, We set out to explore the combination and interaction of multiple spaces by examining and exploring the distinctive features of the company, and by extracting, breaking down and developing from the elements of its logo. We seek to incorporate more possibilities to co-create a cool and fun work environment,” said Fang Lei.

1. An Invi...

Editor's Picks #558

2024-04-18T15:38:00-04:00

Back in March, Niall Patrick Walsh published a chat with Melodie Yashar Vice President of Building Design & Performance at the construction technologies company ICON. At one point he quips "That’s a shame. Destructive testing would make for great TikTok content".

Later Melodie reflects "The most important thing, from my perspective…is to maintain a willingness to learn and listen to others from disparate fields…to keep an open mind, to be sure that the right people are at the table…to ensure we are not becoming siloed".

CarbonX material testing. Photo credit - ICON

News

Olson Kundig completed a series of eight custom single-family homes, in West Hollywood, collectively named ‘The Houses at 8899 Beverly’. Janosh agreed with jimblake, at least in terms of the "underlying sentiment. I like their work but in the same way some other people admire supercars. They are handsome, have nothing to do with my life and are not at all sustainable simply based on their size and resource consumpti...

16 firms hiring Project Manager/Project Architects in Los Angeles & Orange County

2024-04-18T13:53:00-04:00

This week's edition of our curated jobs roundup from Archinect Jobs features 16 architecture and design firms in the greater Los Angeles area currently hiring for Project Managers and Project Architects.

For helpful guidance on how to get that next job, make sure to check out Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series and our Archinect Tips collection.

Studio of Relativity, Inc. dba Relativity Architects seeks a Project Architect/Senior Project Architect and a Senior Project Manager in Los Angeles

Project Architect/Senior Project Architect details: "The right person for this role will be an excellent communicator, strategic thinker and collaborative problem solver, as well as have significant experience in code analysis and detailing/documentation. A candidate needs to be able to work independently and collaboratively, with a passion for craft and an eye for detail. The right person will also have substantial QA/QC experience and has been responsible for the architectural and consultant...

Henning Larsen plans new mixed-use civic center for Toronto

2024-04-18T13:33:00-04:00

Henning Larsen has debuted its plans for the Etobicoke Civic Centre (ECC) in Toronto, a mixed-use design within the city’s redeveloped Etobicoke Civic Centre Precinct that contains government offices and council chambers, child care center, library, public health clinic, recreation centre, and retail spaces aside a new 47,000-square-foot public square.

This project includes approximately 264,000 square feet of below-ground space and another 210,000 square feet of offices defined by a series of nine exponentially taller green-roofed buildings supported by a 300,000-square-foot podium.

Image rendering courtesy of Adamson Associates Architects, Henning Larsen and PMA Landscape Architects

The podium contains the majority of its public functions (an art gallery, healthcare component, the library, a fitness center, and multi-faith ceremony rooms). Adamson Associates and PMA Landscape Architects are also included in the design team. Construction for the project commenced this month with a c...

SCI-Arc's immersive 2024 Spring Show exhibition to feature a colorful assortment of new student work

2024-04-18T12:58:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect Partner School

SCI-Arc, an Archinect Partner School, is hosting its annual Spring Show exhibition later this month that will feature the work of undergraduate and graduate students from all school programs. The show takes place on its LA Arts District campus, beginning with the opening reception at 6 PM on Saturday, April 27th.

The annual exhibition is meant to highlight students' work and the diversity of SCI-Arc’s course offerings via four immersive monochromatic rooms, each with different textures covering its surfaces. The curator of this year’s Spring Show, postgraduate Fiction and Entertainment program faculty Alexey Marfin, tells Archinect: "The spaces operate on two scales: The bold statement seen from afar, but also the fine material detail seen on closer inspection."

"The exhibition will be centered around an experience...

MAD Architects creates Milan Design Week pavilion inspired by mountains

2024-04-18T12:17:00-04:00

MAD Architects has completed its latest installation for Milan Design Week. Titled ‘Amazing Walk.’ the project marks the seventh time MAD has participated in the event.

Image credit: Moreno Maggi

Set within the Cortile della Farmacia courtyard at the University of Milan, the ‘Amazing Walk’ seeks to “blur the boundary between built and natural environments in a surreal way.” Standing 24.6 feet tall, the internal column-free piece is formed of hundreds of triangular elements configured to reflect “the shape of mountains.”

Image credit: Moreno Maggi

The installation is constructed from an aluminum alloy covered in a semi-permeable composite membrane. The resulting finish offers varying visuals under different lighting conditions while, during the night, lights and mist blur the edges of the materials to give the illusion that the pavilion is floating.

Image credit: Moreno Maggi

“This open design invites explorat...

David Lynch discusses his scenographic installation at Salone del Mobile with curator Antonio Monda

2024-04-18T12:11:00-04:00

David Lynch is participating in this year's Salone del Mobile with an installation titled ‘Interiors by David Lynch. Thinking Room’ he designed to offer visitors of the fair a respite while serving tribute to the lurid scenography fans of his classic films Blue Velvet and Lost Highway will find pleasingly familiar.

The centerpiece of the installation is an oversized wooden armchair, designed by Lynch himself, with intricate brass tubes positioned overhead, creating a striking visual and tactile experience. Lynch's approach to design reflects his cinematic vision, where every element is imbued with meaning and emotion.

"Interiors by David Lynch. A Thinking Room," interior view. Image: courtesy Lombardini22

As part of the special weeklong exhibition, Salone curator Antonio Monda interviewed Lynch (who has also tried his hand at the visual arts, furniture making, and nightlife space design) about his contribution and the central role his advocacy for transcendental meditation plays in ...

Health Sciences Centre, Women and Newborn Hospital by Parkin Architects Limited

2024-04-17T18:58:00-04:00

Welcome to the Health Sciences Centre, Women and Newborn Hospital, a state-of-the-art healthcare facility nestled in the heart of Winnipeg, Manitoba. With a total investment of $232.9 million, the cutting-edge hospital aims to provide a warm, welcoming environment where patients can feel comfortable, safe, and empowered to take charge of their health.

The hospital spans an impressive 388,500 square feet, and represents a significant milestone in healthcare infrastructure. Designed in collaboration with Architecture 49, the Women and Newborn Hospital is a shining example of sustainability, boasting LEED certification and a dedication to environmental responsibility.

The completion date in 2019 marked the beginning of a new era in healthcare for women and newborns in the community. Within these walls, the hospital strives to redefine the patient experience, placing utmost importance on comfort, safety, and empowerment.

Visitors are greeted by a warm and inviting atmosphere as soon as ...

Lesley Lokko and Marina Tabassum named among TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2024

2024-04-17T17:16:00-04:00

TIME Magazine has named architects Lesley Lokko and Marina Tabassum to its list of the world’s '100 Most Influential People of 2024.'

The recent RIBA Gold Medalist (Lokko) and Soan Medal winner (Tabassum) were honored by the publication along with artists Jenny Holzer and LaToya Ruby Frazier and global figures such as the noted Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza and Russian political activist Yulia Navalnaya.

Brief profiles from Harvard GSD’s Dean Sarah M. Whiting and filmmaker/screenwriter Ava Marie DuVernay accompany Tabassum and Lokko, who join a list of other architects selected as TIME 100 honorees that includes SCAPE founder Kate Orff (2023), Kengo Kuma (2021), Jeanne Gang (2019, Bjarke Ingels (2016), and Wang Shu (2013).

The full list of honorees is available here.

"Natur-Lodges" Collective Housing by RHB architectes

2024-04-17T16:58:00-04:00

While the southern boundary of the plot is more densely built up with volumes at R+3 level, the height of the built mass gradually diminishes towards the north in order to maintain a scale consistent with the town of Reichstett. Two generous undeveloped pockets to the north, the shared vegetable garden and the Haut Verger, provide a breathing space for the site and a gentle transition with the suburban area.

To the east, the collective building creates a clear border along the existing Grand Verger, and at the same time creates a sense of animation through its architectural interplay. In the centre, the combination of an intermediate and social building in front of the Parkway and a third, less dense building set back creates a small square for the residents of the block. To the west, the social housing building marks the boundary with the easement and the public green space.

The staggered arrangement of the buildings on either side of the central alleyway creates multiple visual op...

Seattle Humane by Johnston Architects

2024-04-17T16:49:00-04:00

Finding its mission to serve pets in need limited by the constraints of it’s small, 1960s era facility, Seattle Humane sought to build a new animal shelter that would increase the number of animals served while providing a base of operations for their community outreach programs. At 57,000 SF, the new shelter does just that by providing beds for 165 cats and 170 dogs. This 35% increase of animal capacity allows Seattle Humane to take in more animals from high-kill shelters and helps place more pets with adoptive families. To limit disruptions to operations and programming, the new building was constructed adjacent to the existing on the same site, allowing the shelter to remain open throughout construction.

The new shelter solves the problem of its steep slope by creating a three-story building that uses the grade to its advantage. The public enters the building by crossing a pedestrian bridge to the main level, which houses public adoption, the cat colony, and a pet store. Heading ...

Esteemed academic and architect Janice Shimizu has passed away at 54

2024-04-17T13:54:00-04:00

Archinect is remembering the life and legacy of Ball State University architecture professor Janice Shimizu, who has passed away at the age of 54.

Janice won many hearts and minds throughout an estimable career in academia and the professional realm, sentiments that were repeated by the many people with whom she became familiar through her involvement in the Japanese-Canadian community in and around her native Manitoba.

She earned a Bachelor of Environmental Design degree from the University of Manitoba before completing her graduate studies at SCI-Arc, later entering professional practice with Thom Mayne and Morphosis in Los Angeles and, in 2004, founding the now widely-recognized studio Shimizu + Coggeshall Architects (S+Ca) with husband Josh Coggeshall.

Revisit our 2017 Archinect Sessions conversation with Janice Shimizu below.

Donna Sink has shared the following thoughts with Archinect: “Janice was not only deeply respected but deeply loved by her colleagues and by hundreds o...

Gordon Kipping's mass timber installation 'Maison de Cartes' is now open at SCI-Arc

2024-04-17T13:02:00-04:00

SCI-Arc opened a new exhibition last Friday, curated by Class of 1995 M.Arch graduate Gordon Kipping, that documents the development of mass timber within contemporary architecture.

Inspired by Le Corbusier’s 1914–15 Dom-Ino House prototype, Maison de Cartes presents examples both in the form of physical models and via a special augmented reality (AR) application to deliver a narrative about timber's ability and potential to meet the challenge of climate change in different typological contexts worldwide.

Image credit Joshua White Photography, courtesy of SCI-Arc

The exhibition culminates years of research into engineering and sustainable construction methods and Kipping's belief that timber architecture can play a role in alleviating the impinging housing crisis in Los Angeles and abroad.

Image credit Joshua White Photography, courtesy of SCI-Arc

SCI-Arc says: "It's a testament to his conviction that architects should pay more attention to such societal issues, exploring tangible w...

New York’s MTA is hiring a director for its real estate portfolio

2024-04-17T12:16:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Technical Architect - US Government Work at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Deputy Director, Occupancy Management - Real Estate at the MTA Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The role, based in New York City, calls for an individual from an architectural or real estate background to support the MTA’s real estate operations. Among the responsibilities for the position will be to “focus on focus on maximizing the efficiency and strategic use of the MTA’s substantial office space portfolio,” which encompasses up to 4 million square feet.

Related on Archinect: New public art commissions for NYC's soon-to-open Grand Central Madison expansion include mosaics by Yayoi Kusama and Kiki Smith. Image courtesy Metropolitan Transportation Authority - MTA/Facebook

Why the role interests us

The open role at the MTA offers us the opportunity to ...

South E8 by Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects [LOHA]

2024-04-17T12:15:00-04:00

As one of the fastest growing cities in the country, Raleigh is experiencing the need for housing densification and is fostering new centers for community growth. Located just down the street from Downtown in a primarily single-residence neighborhood, LOHA’s South E8 brings eight units to a lot that previously had one. Retaining the visual scale of its context, South E8 employs a distinctive massing strategy and unique floorplan to integrate living quarters with roof decks and outdoor spaces. Utilizing an efficient footprint, passive design strategies and recyclable materials, this project brings sustainable approaches to a future vision of housing in the area.

The interior uses the massing to create exceptional spaces with plenty of natural light. The roof decks frame the Downtown skyline and provide additional gathering spaces. On the exterior, the brick patterning strategy at the base leads to a metal paneling as the home rises. South E8 exemplifies the typology of how to...

Canyon5 by Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects [LOHA]

2024-04-17T12:14:00-04:00

Conceived by smart growth proponents as a viable solution to Los Angeles' tight housing market, the City of Los Angeles adopted the Small Lot Subdivision Ordinance in 2005. The ordinance aimed to encourage the construction of smaller, more affordable infill housing to target first-time home buyers in an increasingly unaffordable market; simultaneously increasing density while maintaining the residential scale of Los Angeles neighborhoods

Located just south of LA’s Beachwood Canyon, our Canyon5 project examines the small lot subdivision typology by taking advantage of its efficiencies of footprint and density while creating unique homes filled with light and air. Starting from the maximum allowable envelope, the single mass is divided by tilting the exterior walls away from the lot lines at different angles to define the individual homes and create opportunities for solar exposure and natural ventilation. From their initial A-frame-like shapes, the volumes are expanded at their cente...

Makoto Yamaguchi completes Tokyo gaming headquarters with slanting walls and video game metaphors

2024-04-17T11:43:00-04:00

Japanese practice Makoto Yamaguchi Design has completed a headquarters for a game production company in Tokyo inspired by video game elements.

Facing the site of an elevated railway where trains pass on average every 1.5 minutes in both directions, the scheme is defined by slanted walls in response to environmental elements such as light, wind, and sound.

Image credit: Koichi Torimura

Across the building, every slanted wall height is optimized according to the requirements of each floor. The third-floor walls, for example, are increased in height to prevent recording studios from being impacted by external noise. Meanwhile, the height of the slanted walls decreases as the scheme rises to open views of the surrounding city.

Image credit: Koichi Torimura

“The slanted walls protect the interior from the external gaze, making it impossible to tell what the building is for from the outside,” Yamaguchi explains. “Not being able to see the purpose is much the sa...