FEB

A portrait of the Client: Library House, Tochigi, Japan by Shinichi Ogawa.

Photos: Shinichi Ogawa & Associates.

Any lover of traditional books will eventually come across the same conundrum: what to do with them all? Shinichi Ogawa, the architect for this house in Tochigi, Japan, designed a house around a library wall some 6.5m tall. In so doing, he made a clear statement about his client which he carried through other architectural details in the design. Read more

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JAN

House H for a family, Matsudo City, Japan by Hiroyuki Shinozaki.

Photos: Fumihiko Ikememoto.

When designing a family house, there is a temptation to design tightly around the client’s current needs, but these will inevitably change with time. More subtle perhaps, and certainly more difficult, is to design with the spirit of the family as perhaps a more constant quality to inform the proceedings. A successful home will be created when that spirit is able to grow within the house.

Hiroyuki Shinozaki looks as though he has designed a dream home for his clients in Matsudo City, a satellite town within commuting distance from Tokyo, that will surely be successful. The architect has interpreted building a house in this city as a declaration of intent that his clients want light, space and hope.

He has provided these qualities in abundance. Read more

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DEC

A machine for waiting in: Gate house,Tokyo by ZSA.

Photo credits: ZSA.

When the Kambara Aluminium Company wanted a new gate house they saw an opportunity for a little advertising in its product. After due consideration they selected the architects ZSA to create a structure, completed in 2007, entirely out of aluminium. Read more

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NOV

Zaha leaves the pack: Japan National Stadium competition.

 

Photos: Zaha Hadid / Japan Sports Council.

Zaha Hadid beat an impressive list of finalists to win the Japan National Stadium competition including: second place Cox Architecture, and third place SANAA. Other finalists include Toyo Ito and Populous. Tadao Ando was one of the judges with the Japan Sports Council. Read more

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NOV

Pleasing pleats: Saitame, Japan by Hironaka Ogawa & Associates

A view of the prow.

Photos: Daici Ano.

I am not entirely certain what this building is such is the level of its abstract expression. Recently completed in Saitame, Japan, it was designed by Hironaka Ogawa & Associates and it includes a Christian chapel, a dining room with a speaker’s dais, a bar or café room, and a series of, what look like offices.

Like a powerful symphony developed from just a few notes, it takes the simple idea of the folded surface, or pleat, and develops it into a convincing architectural expression. Read more

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