Local Design Studio i in has updated the reception lounge for Tokyo Officeadding a vegetable plant Centerpiece and a sculptural ceramic installation.
is located in Museum Tower KyobashiA nikken sekkei-designed building that houses an art museum, i in Wanted the reception to be a nod to the function of the building and chose the concept of “working with art” for the redesign.
“Kyobashi in Tokyo, where the building is located, has long been home to many small galleries,” IIN told Dezeen. “This building was constructed on such a location five years ago and is a rare office building in Japan that houses an art museum.”
It says, “At this five-year milestone, the interior was reimagined with the aim of fusing art with sensibility and function with logic, creating a chemical reaction between the two.”
I wanted the lounge to function as a space between office and home.
“We designed the lobby to serve as a gray area between ‘on’ and ‘off’, functioning as neither an office nor a home,” said IIN.
“Of course, the building also has workplace space as well as dining space and a rooftop garden.” “However, there was no living space there. So, we decided to design the lobby as a ‘living lounge’.”
The studio, led by Yohei Terui and Hiromu Yuyama, wanted to give the space a “warm expression” without removing existing elements. It added lighting amid ceiling louvers, comfortable furniture and brown and beige carpeting.
In the center of the room, I placed a granite planter filled with plants and moss, making it look like a forest floor.
“We decided to position the greenery as a symbol of the vibrant ‘living lounge’, creating a sense of vitality,” IIN explained. “The theme of the building’s rooftop garden was ‘Musashino Forest.’ Musashino is a location in Tokyo that represents the old, original landscape of the city.”
The studio added, “A mountain erupts, lava flows, moss grows on the rocks and over time, the area turns into a jungle.”
“The types and sizes of plants were selected based on this concept, imagining what the landscape would look like five years from now – the same period of the building’s history – after becoming a forest.”
Nikken Sekkei’s design of the Museum Tower Kyobashi features multi-sectional louvers and a curved roof that references traditional Japanese architecture.
I drew on this exterior when creating the reception lounge, which includes a sculptural ceramic installation of hanging louvers.
“The louvers on the facade were designed with a shape that allows light into the building in a rational way, based on precise calculations of changes in sunlight,” said IIN. “We thought this design epitomizes the intelligence of the building.”
It says, “While the cool, rational louvres on the front are made of aluminium, we have created louvres of the same shape using ceramic, a material derived from nature.”
“We hoped the design would appeal to people’s senses, feel warm to the touch, and they were randomly arranged to create the impression of fluttering in the wind.”
I IN BUILT TOILET FIRST drenched in bright green and yellow lightt and overhauled A 1980s apartment in Tokyo,
photography is by tomuki kengaku,