katsuhiro miyamoto: elastico

‘elastico’ hair salon by katsuhiro miyamoto all images courtesy katsuhiro miyamoto  

japanese architect katsuhiro miyamoto has designed ‘elastico’, a hair salon in japan, based on the idea of of using architecture without a building frame, whereby a ‘partitioning wall’ can be seen as a ‘skin’ without ‘skeleton’. the partitioning wall is made from a very thin black steel which has a thickness of only 2.3mm, swinging softly if you push it.

the interior is part of the façade as well as an instep with the townscape. the ‘black steel’ has a scratched pattern, mimicking the building’s brick tiles, as of making the wall look as if it extends further than it actually does.

a top view looking at the thin ‘skin-like’ structure that forms the ‘walls’, wrapping around the interior space.

exterior view