In designing tenant buildings for which the interiors will be determined afterwards, rather than defining the spaces it is important that there is a wide spatial potential. For example, the freedom to build walls in any arrangement is more important than how the walls are actually arranged. A typical tenant building has a tree-like organization in which each floor is independently accessed by elevator from the entrance at the first floor. With regard to this project, in addition to the normal circulation, we proposed using voids to connect the spaces of each floor in a spiral arrangement, incorporating a loop in the unidirectionally ordered structure. The access routes to each space are thereby multiplied; other possibilities for grouping the spaces arise, enabling integrated usages or tenants that cover several floors. Additionally, the four variations in floor height and the flexibly organized mechanical services allow a variety of spatial choices.
Design Philosophy of Hitoshi Abe + Atelier Hitoshi Abe
Architecture is the unification of the diverse phenomena that constitute the state of a place, which are contingently manifested as boundary surfaces. Perhaps this is exactly like a soap bubble. Although a soap bubble defines an inside and an outside, its form is simultaneously dependent on the balance between these two environments. A soap bubble is an extremely delicate object, and so its form will reflect fluctuations in the relationships between adjacent conditions. Similarly, architecture comprises delicate boundaries that may accommodate the fluidity of various contemporary phenomena. In this way, architecture not only distinguishes between adjacent conditions, but also acts as a mobile interface, a medium that connects these adjoining phenomena.
