Aichi, Japan
Norihisa Kawashima’s “Good Cycle Building,” designed with furniture designers Takt Project Inc., Studio Yumakano, and Nori Architects and Chips LLC. lighting is the renovation and refurbishment of an existing 30-year-old building into an environment-friendly new corporate headquarters for Asanuma Corporation in central Japan.
The project is a structure in a ‘cycle’—conceived to utilize and modify the existing building’s framework to increase access to natural light and wind, as well as to use as much natural materials as possible, such as land and wood, so that building users can participate in construction and maintenance.
On the workspace floors, the existing windows are set back, the opening and closing forms of the windows are changed, eaves are added, and the core is planned to ensure sufficient daylight and ventilation in all office areas and to control solar radiation appropriately.
On the first and second floors, slabs were removed in the east-west direction to create a stairwell with top lights to create an open and bright entrance and lounge despite the dark environment surrounded by buildings.
On the seventh and eighth floors, where the surrounding area is open, the slab in the center of the south side is removed to create a conference room and hall where the light from the sky can be fully enjoyed.
A variety of soil materials were used for the floors, walls, ceilings, and furniture inside and outside the building.
By involving the users, plastering the wall with soil became familiar so that they were able to perform maintenance themselves.
In addition, Kawashima’s studio decided that the finishing method would be possible only if many amateurs, not craftsmen, participated in the process, such as making marks with their fingers or throwing the soil, so that the wall would be expressed ‘naturally’ through human movements.
No impurities are added to the earthen wall so that it can be reused as a material in the future and eventually returned to the earth.
Sugi Japanese cedar from the Yoshino forest in Nara was used for accessories and furniture.
The front façade is made of Yoshino cedar logs of the largest possible diameter from a single cedar tree, which become smaller as they reach the upper levels.
This is intended to allow the viewer to experience the trees as they would naturally stand, and to minimize the amount of scrap wood generated, maximizing the potential for future use after drying.
The scrap wood that is generated will be accumulated and used to make furniture and products that allow people to enjoy the scent of cedar.
Stones and other materials used in the existing building that could be cleanly removed were reused as interior surface materials, while others were crushed into small pieces and hardened with plaster to be used as surface materials for furniture.
Architecture, in this project, is thus seen as a transit point in the flow of materials and has the aspect of a ‘material depository’.
In order for materials to be up-cycled and continue to be used, the designers decided it is important to use natural materials in a way that they can be separated from artificial materials, so as to maximize the possibility of subsequent use, and to eventually return them to the earth.
The architects teamed up with furniture designers Takt Project Inc., Studio Yumakano, and Nori Architects and Chips LLC. lighting design to create a cohesive interior.
Project: Good Cycle Building 001
Architects: Nori Architects and Asanuma Corporation
Lead Architect: Norihisa Kawashima
Design Team: Takuro Kunitomo, Shohei Takeuchi, Yuki Ishibashi, Kiyoshi Hasegawa, Saya Okazaki, Kazuaki Nakamura, Naoko Itemadani, and Katsuya Mizuno
Furniture Designers: Takt Project Inc., Studio Yumakano, and Nori Architects
Lighting Designers: Chips LLC.
Structural Engineerss: Asanuma Corporation
General Contractor: Asanuma Corporation
Client: Asanuma Corporation
Photographers: Jumpei Suzuki