Café in Ujina

CAFÉ IN UJINA

IGArchitects

Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano

ARCHITECTS
Igarchitects

AREA
56 m²

YEAR
2020

PHOTOGRAPHS
Toshiyuki Yano

LEAD ARCHITECTS
IGArchitects, Masato Igarashi

STRUCTURE
Yousuke Misaki EQSD

MEP
Noriko Ito ZO Consulting Engineers

LIGHTING
Eri Nagao ModuleX Incorporated

DESIGN TEAM
IGArchitects

CLIENTS
Mayumi Yamada

MANUFACTURERS
AutoDesk, Panasonic, Sanwa, ATOM LIVINTECH, ModuleX, RELINCE, Trimble Navigation

MEPF
Noriko Ito ZO Consulting Engineers

LANDSCAPE
Yuuta Itagaki Solso

KITCHEN
Hironobu Hosoda Maruzen

FIRE PROTECTION
Noriko Ito ZO Consulting Engineers

LOCATION
Hiroshima, japan

CATEGORY
Coffee shop

Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano

Text description provided by architect.

A jungle gym is a playground equipment, but also could be a mountain, observatory, and a small house. It resembles a nature that continue existing there, and it is also like an architecture that can be freely customized.

“The perfect architecture” where everything is prepared is somewhat suffocating. A jungle gym carries possibility to change its use while preserving its strength. I think of building an architecture as such.

Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano
Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano

The café stands along the coast. The requirements are to make it able to look out the coast from the seating, and to plant a large tree inside.

Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano
Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano

I thought of an architecture with strength that will be consistent with any acceptance, in order to exceed the use of the space as a café and create a place that makes people gather.

Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano
Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano
Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano

The glass provides openness so people can enjoy their food in nature, the plants inside allows connection between the space inside and outside.

The café has a distinctive space for this site, with its small scale that creates coziness and that people can enjoy coffee and the time viewing the coast spreading out before.

Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano
Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano

The heights of four slabs are to be set by relationship of surrounding environment, seating arrangement and height of the trees. To view the coast over the embankment, multiple slabs; people’s roof, and trees’ roof, are stacked and making places with many different scales.

Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano
Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano

Inside and outside spaces got inverted along with the movement, and many different “between spaces” with different scales made by slab layers, such as between nature and human made, between inside and outside, are forming gradational environment.

Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano
Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano

The simple table formed structure with slabs that prevent rain and wind and supporting columns, has its own independent composition, and the slabs and columns are made to have no relation to the boundary between in and out.

This space tried to achieve creation of fulfilled atmosphere only by controlling few materials and simple scales. Being a café, its structure could also be a gallery, hair salon even a house.

Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano
Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano

This space will broaden possibilities of the users’ life style, and it has strength that will be consistent with any acceptance.

This space has been released from services and structure, and it is a possibility of strength and freedom in an architecture form.

Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano
Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano
Café in Ujina
© Toshiyuki Yano


Café in Ujina
Elevation 01
Café in Ujina
Elevation 02


Café in Ujina
Plan
Café in Ujina
Section