tadashi saito + atelier NAVE: isunoki

‘isunoki’ by tadashi saito + atelier NAVE, kangawa, japan all images courtesy of tadashi saito + atelier NAVE

japanese firm tadashi saito + atelier NAVE have designed ‘isunoki’, an office building for their practice with an adjacent structure to house a botanical garden in kangawa, japan. expressed with different materials, the overall external compositions are parallel, elevating a bifurcated, solid mass upon a transparent base. a glass-enclosed museum and shop extend views towards a field and distant hills, containing the restrooms within an opaque, rectangular volume at the center of the floor plan. an open-riser steel staircase leads to the spacious studio space, with a perimeter ledge intended for computers and work stations. a continuous horizontal band window offers a backdrop of the encompassing scenery.

office building

at ground level, sliding glass wall opens to link the adjacent conservatory. containing large shrubs and green vegetation, the cladding is supported with an internal timber framework. a screen of dark wood continues the stacked facade elements of the adjacent atelier. an experimental air conditioning system powered by groundwater, called a pechka heating system, has been implemented.

volume clad with shear concrete walls hovers above a glass base

a mirror reflects and frames a distant hill

view of the stairs and shop

volume containing the restrooms

outward view from the museum

(left) stairs to the upper level office space (right) perimeter band window is backdrop for computer workstations

sliding glass wall opens to the adjacent conservatory

gardens within the conservatory

at dusk

floor plan / level 0 2. conservatory 3. museum 4. shop 5. parking

floor plan / level 1 1. office

exploded axonometric

project info:

location: kagawa, japan principal use: office + shop + museum, botanical garden structure: steel frame(office), wooden(botanical garden) year: 2009