Tokyo, Japan 

Ryuichi Sasaki Architecture’s design for the Ideareve Ikegami music center for Yasunori Kamata/K-M-T overcomes a complex, trapezoidal plot in Tokyo, achieving a form reminiscent of musical instruments.

For its inspired design, Ideareve Ikegami music center has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The project site is located on the south side of Tokyo, at the foot of Ikegami Honmonji temple, well known for its five‐story pagoda. 

In Japan it is considered the main temple of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism, said to have been founded by a noble monk Nichiren more than 700 years ago. 

The land surrounding the historic site of Ikegami Honmonji temple, atop the mountain area in Ota Ward, is famous for its cherry blossoms during the spring season. 

At the foot of the site, the town around the elevated temple flourishes in its act of revitalization, with smaller temples, cafes, stores, and a plan for a facility in which the residents of the area may present, create, practice, and study music.

The idea is to present a variety of spaces for musical activities and simultaneously program them to be used at different times in various hybrid ways. 

The site itself takes the form of a trapezoidal shape, extending from east to west, while half of the site faces a narrow alley. 

On the north side, there is a cemetery and a mountainous terrain that leads up to the Ikegami Honmonji temple. 

To conceal the graveyard and the zoning ordinance from the residents (which is a building restriction on and below the cliffs to prevent earthquake collapses) no openings to the site were planned on the north side.

On the west side, there are temples and cafes, and on weekends, it becomes a walkway to the Ikegami Honmonji temple. 

The southeast side is reserved for the residential area. 

The building’s structure is spread out along the site in a geometrical fashion. 

The music hall is placed in the southwest part of the building, creating a space for circulation between the interior and exterior of the site: forming the foyer and entrance hall as the landscape space entwines with undulating hills and variations of elevated spaces.

Atop the circulation area of the structure is a residential space, designed with a volume shape—an effect of mountainous topography, which has been shifted along the north‐south axis of the site, symbolic of this project’s connection to the Ikegami Honmonji temple. 

Shifting away from the circulation space of the architectural site, one may see the distribution of the private zones reserved for soundproofed rental and penthouse planned housing areas.

The volume on the north‐south axis of the mountainous area complies with the urban legal restrictions—sun‐shading and building height regulations (oblique lines)—while also taking into consideration the lighting effect in relation to its surrounding environment. 

The view of the residential area is designed to create an effect reminiscent of musical instruments and melodic rhythms—different from those of simply stacked living facilities—creating a combination of the music hall with the efficiently planned living spaces that occupy most of the building.

The architectural flow line is composed of an entrance vestibule and a foyer, which is used as an entrance hall circulation space, allowing visitors to experience a variety of areas within the complex from the outdoor entrance walkway to the indoor foyer. 

The music hall consists of a two‐story building, with 80 seats in the theatrical hall, forming a trapezoidal volume of over six meters high in its southwest corner. 

The interior and exterior of the hall consist of walls designed to evoke a visionary, rhythmic, and musical world.

In the foyer of the inner structure, three brass‐colored stainless steel diagonal walls are composed with the lighting lines. 

The inner frontal part of the hall is surrounded by acoustic reflectors, while each of the large walls forms together an abstract diagonal shape. 

To avoid the sound from overlapping, these acoustic reflectors and walls are not aligned parallel to the plan. 

The concept of this structure is to create an experience of musical space in the surrounding of its unique location. 

In addition, the hall is also surrounded by a circulating area of glass surfaces and door entrances to allow for multiple passageways in and from the music hall in connection to its exterior.

Project: Ideareve Ikegami
Architects: Ryuichi Sasaki Architecture
Lead Architect: Ryuichi Sasaki
Associate Architects: Takayuki Yagi/Yagi Komuten
General Contractor: Takayuki Yagi/Yagi Komuten
Client: Yasunori Kamata/K-M-T
Photographers: Takumi Ota Photography