'studio gotenyama' by chiba manabu architects

‘studio gotenyama’ by chiba manabu architects all images © chiba manabu architects

japanese firm chiba manabu architects created ‘studio gotenyama’,

located in shinagawa – ku, tokyo. the box frame building is situated close to a newly built 10-story high-rise apartment and two-story old, wooden houses. rather than create a closed environment they incorporated the surrounding buildings into their design.

the first step was to make a thick wall that contains a lot of storage space, in order to solve the problem of noise pollution, heat insulation and the storage of personal belongings. the depth of each window is extremely thick compared to that of an ordinary window, bringing about a mysterious sense of distance between the interior and the exterior.

as a second step, the window frames were covered in stainless steel to make them like a kaleidoscope, reflecting countless different views. all sides of the window frames mirror another scenery: the bottom reflects the sky, the top reflects the earth and the sides reflect the neighbouring buildings. the window with thickness generates a mixture of virtual and real images, almost like an illusion.

http://www.chibamanabu.jp

‘studio gotenyama’

view from window interior view from window

interior

view from window

‘studio gotenyama’ elevation plan

general info: project name: studio gotenyama period of design : april 2005 – december 2006 period of construction: february 2006 – november 2006 location: shinagawa-ku, tokyo principal use: collective housing structure: box frame type reinforced concrete site area: 131.40m2 building area: 80.28m2 total floor area: 277.35m2 stories: 4 stories design: chiba manabu architects structural engineers: kanebako structual engineers mechanical engineers: gn General contractors: tuboi corporation producer: toshio hara (director and president of hara museum) photographer: masao nishikawa