Japanese studio EASTERN design office has designed the sculptural facade – Strips in Shiga Japan.

The form of this construction is the dancing light and the shadow.
They dance slowly over one day.
They dance slowly like a Noh performance.
This has a sculpturesque solidity in its expression.

EASTERN design office

Strips, image courtesy of EASTERN design office

+ Project description courtesy of EASTERN design office

Strips
“Dancing: Light and Shadow”

The form of this construction is the dancing light and the shadow.
They dance slowly over one day.
They dance slowly like a Noh performance.
This has a sculpturesque solidity in its expression.

Random curves sculptured into the façade serve as a random structure. 41.13m on the long side, 13.13m on the short side, and 7m in height, providing 12 entrances for people and 30 openings for light.

The site for this project is on the east side of Lake Biwa, the biggest lake in Japan and this is the first medical building for rent in this area.

Strips, image courtesy of EASTERN design office

Waterways run through the town. This paddy field area was once a cross road of lively culture. Kyoto lies to its west, Kumano and Ise are to its south. Sacred Mt. Ibuki is in its north. Those who went to the east passed along this land from the ancient Yayoi time.

An extraordinary and dramatic effect obtained from appreciating noh performances is similar to richness obtained through simplicity. It can be a merit to give the place a tension through simplicity. This notion leads to the conceptual idea of this building: a corridor of lights and shadows dancing slowly over a day. It is our intention to build a certain special and rich form on this land that has blessing inherited from ancient times.

Farmers pass through a small paddy field footpath. Children dance around the hedge. Taking a nap under the shade of trees. Seasonal religious services by rich farmers. Performing shishimai (Lion dance). Greetings of people serving rice cakes and their smile and smiling faces. Performing of kagura (Shinto music and dance) by traveling entertainers. Dances performed by such people are the origin of this form. Forgetting daily labor and suffering, makes people to leave their worries behind and take a break, laugh and calm down. This opens up the ray of light which surpasses the day-to day world.

Strips, image courtesy of EASTERN design office

The shafts of light woven by the stripes of the wall have an effect to change the nature of an ordinary crossing path. Form has an effect to vibrate lights. Inside "The Strip" that dances slowly all through a day, children whirl around.

Next to the site is a kindergarten. Mothers and children pass. This is a path to an elementary and a junior high school. There is a park across this building. Children play around here moving in and out of the opening. Children and people going to the hospital are crossing. Refreshment of mind and warmth are present here which cannot commonly be seen in hospitals.

Strips, sketch courtesy of EASTERN design office

+ Project credits / data

Project: Strips
Location: Shiga Japan
Completion: 2007
Client: TOYO-KAIHATSU Co., ltd
Site area: 1,658.30m2
Total floor area: 1,012.26m2
Design team: EASTERN design office + HOJO Structure Research Institue
Photographer: Koichi Torimura
Constructor: Okudakomuten Co., Ltd

+ All images and drawings courtesy of EASTERN design office | Photo © Koichi Torimura

Image courteys of Studio 06

Grand Designs Awards 2010

Our previous lighting post – Furà lamp (designers Roberto Guadrini, Massimo Guglielmotto and Paolo Mattiolo, known as Studio 06), won the Grand Designs Awards 2010 for Best Lighting Design.

On the evening of May 6, 2010, at the Excel Exhibition Center in London, England, took the gala event which rewards the best designers worldwide.

The award categories were 12, including the Best Lighting Design where Studio 06 with his Furà lamp (produced by Biffi Luce) got the better on the elite design world, among which stood out clearly Ross Lovegrove with Mercury lamp made by Artemide.

Host of the evening was Kevin McCloud, renowned English architect and TV presenter.

A great success for three young Italian designers, emphasized even more by the enthusiasm shown by the jury (consisting of 17 prestigious experts in the field) about innovative and emotional idea of Furà lamp.

+ Designer : Studio 06
+ Grand Designs Awards 2010

Furà Lamp, image courtesy of Studio 06

Furà Lamp, image courtesy of Studio 06

Furà Lamp, image courtesy of Studio 06

Furà Lamp, image courtesy of Studio 06

574 Swan Street - 3D model, drawing courtesy of NH Architecture

Australian architectural practice NH Architecture has completed the 574 Swan Street mixed use building located in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond. It is a building to house a restaurant and two retail outlets at ground level and two floors of office accommodation above.

+ Project description courtesy of NH Architecture

574 Swan Street is a small mixed use building sited at the gateway to a new office park in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond. Its position on the site allows picturesque views across the Yarra River parklands as well as the city skyline to the north-west.

The building program includes a restaurant and two retail outlets at ground level and two floors of office accommodation above. The client / building owner occupies some of this office space.

The building has an atypical plan form for office accommodation. This partially evolved via negotiation through a series of conflicting planning setbacks. However, it was more about arriving at a resilient plan form that allowed the building not to be dependent on complex architectural detailing for its visual strength.

+ Project credits / data

Architect: NH Architecture
Project: 574 Swan Street
Location: Richmond, Victoria
Client: Thompson Property
Program: Commercial, Retail & Public Realm
Completed: 2009

574 Swan Street, image courtesy of NH Architecture

574 Swan Street, image courtesy of NH Architecture

574 Swan Street, image courtesy of NH Architecture

574 Swan Street, image courtesy of NH Architecture

574 Swan Street, image courtesy of NH Architecture