OFDA associates transforms former ice storage house into fujihimuro gallery in japan

a former himuro — ice storage house in japanese — has been transformed into an art gallery space by OFDA associates called fujihimuro gallery. the space, which has been designed to exhibit the art pieces realized by creatives who take part of an artistic residence next door, features an organically-shaped addition made of fibre reinforced plastic that guides visitors around the space.

previously functioning as the fuji ice factory, the gallery’s concrete walls have been insulated by OFDA associates with a 20cm-thick styrofoam, lined with 6mm plywood with cedar duckboards attached to it. this abundant styrofoam was very beneficial for the conversion, while the duckboards also serve as interior decoration, restoring parts that were destroyed or lost.

the gallery has been divided with concrete walls into five chambers, four of which are connected through small doors. the architects wanted to visualise the flow of people moving around the space and to do so, they came up with a tunnel-like passage with catenary curves in a cross-section view and a starfish-like figure on the floor plan.

built out of FRP (fibre reinforced plastic), the tunnel was completely made by OFDA associates as they couldn’t find someone to build it. they made a bold with plywood and styrofoam, applied coating for exfoliation, placed a glass fibre sheet, and applied plastic resin. the whole structure, which took about three months to complete, is a visualisation of human movement, and at the same time, gives visitors a feeling of walking through the river-bed waters of mt. fuji.

project info:

fujihimuro gallery
architects: taku sakaushi ＋o.f.d.a.
in charge: taku sakaushi, tamon kozu
constructer: takiguchi kenchiku ＋o.f.d.a.
site: fujisyoshida – shi, japan
category: gallery
structure engineer: kentaro nagasaka
shape analysis: shuta takagi