Atsugi, Japan
Commissioned by Kansei Company, the Plaza Circle by T2P Architects in Atsugi is the centerpiece of the new entrance plaza recalling the inside shape of sewer pipes in its design.
The structure is used as a circular visitors’ plaza at the entrance of the Atsugi Forest Environmental Research Center, a training facility owned by Kansei Kogyo, which specializes in managing and cleaning sewer pipe networks.
It unfolds in three circular volumes that differ in diameter and height.
They are eccentric and tangential by the only entrance.
A simple, uncovered opening leads to the hall, a panoptic room focused around a shared washbasin, from which visitors can access the bathrooms.
At the center of the structure, a water garden brings a bout of freshness and a layer of play for children visiting the space.
“The indoor and outdoor hand wash basins were converted from hume pipes. The restroom sign was designed as a three-dimensional pictographic sign combining VP pipes, which are drainage pipes,” explains the team.
“We tried to convey the image of ‘pipes’ as much as possible in the details of the building. We hope visitors to the ‘Plaza Circle,’ which embodies the company’s spirit, will be inspired to think about the sewage infrastructure that supports the city, which they are usually unaware of.”
Usually dark, the spaces here are characterized by unexpected transparency and diffused brightness, full of reflections and colored by the blue and azure ceramic tiles, while the convex walls nonetheless guarantee privacy.
The pool of water expands beyond this intimate and silent place to define a fourth circular surface, intended to be a play space for children in continuity with the surrounding lawn.
Project: Plaza Circle
Architects: T2P Architects
Design Team: Tomonori Miura, Shikwan Yang, and Tatsuhito Ono
Client: KANSEI Company
Photographers: Vincent Hecht
