Built in Koriyama- city, Fukushima Prefecture, this facility complex consists of a 5,500 m2 multi-purpose exhibition hall, a 1000m2 international conference hall, conference rooms and service facilities (total floor area: 23,000m2) . The complex can be adapted for industrial exhibitions, regional festivals, international conferences, concerts, sports events, et al. The name of the building, "Big Palette" derives from the large elliptical roof, which provides its external character. In the case of the "Big Palette", the basic image of the architecture was a metaphorical one; "water", the "incubator" of all life. This metaphorical and poetic concept came from the history of this region. The multi-purpose exhibition hall is a column-free space of 5,500m2, and can be used in six different ways by introducing two movable partition walls. The convention hall, which can house 1,000 seats, can be divided into two spaces. As a total, this architectural complex is intended to act as an “oasis” within the urban landscape of the region, and lead the construction of the surrounding city quarters towards a human environment of beauty and well-being.
The eaves overhanging over the external exhibition space are composed of tubular louvers of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP). The lattice structured hyperbolic paraboloid pedestrian deck stretches from the parking lot for 220m in length, joins an entrance lobby on the second floor and leads to the "Atrium Lobby" enclosed by the multi-purpose exhibition hall and the convention hall/conference room block. The application of ready-made and custom-made metal and patterned panels according to circumstances is used to provide visual expression both internally and externally. The dynamic advanced design such as a catenary curve roof structure, reverse conical fan column connecting keel trusses, a pedestrian deck linked laterally to HP shell, carbon fiber, attracts users as well as visitors.
