Himeji, Japan
Designed by Japanese studio KTX archiLAB, the Poly Cuboid is the new headquarters building for TIA Co, Ltd., a company that provides insurance services.
The corporate office won a 2020 Good Design® Award from The Chicago Athenaeum and in 2022, it was awarded an International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The building’s volume is composed by an interlace of three major cuboid shapes creating intersections, voids, and space units.
The cuboids superposition across each other also allows a richer space syntax, including interior and exterior terraces, an atrium, several seating spaces, and a clear yet richer functional distribution of spaces and connections.
Bridges also connect the cuboids from inside, allowing a dynamic overview of the different spaces.
The first floor was shaped by the limits of the site and a ø 700 mm water pipe that is crossing the site underground limiting foundation space to half the land area.
The middle volume stretching from 2nd to 3rd floor extends in cantilevers on both sides, allowing the building to gain precious square meters.
Functionally, a furnished reception and meeting space together with six private desks and an office space occupy the ground floor.
The workspace continues to the next level with a conference room, CEO’s room, and a second office space.
This floor is separated into two areas by deferent floor levels, with the lower one dedicated to resting spaces, including a kitchen, a table terrace giving on the atrium, and a counter space.
The third and fourth floors are dedicated to recreation with various spaces such as a training room, dining space with a roof terrace, and even a piano space giving on the atrium.
The staircase stretches from 1st to 4th level along the atrium, although this last only reaches the third floor.
The elevator block, however, is the highest cuboid volume and was cladded in reflective black differently from the white cladding on all other volumes.
The metallic structure of the building dissolves into the diverse blocs of the composition.
The pillars and beams vanish from the space syntax, projecting the impression of an object while also eliminating that of a building.
The volumetric design is inspired by TIA’s Logo turning the building itself into an icon representing the company.
Project: KTX archiLAB The PolyCuboid
Architects: KTX archiLAB
Design Team: Tetsuya Matsumoto, Motoaki Takeuchi, and Farid Ziani
Client: TIA Co., Ltd.
Photographers: Stirling Elmendorf
