Chiaki Arai Urban & Architecture Design

Akiha Ward Cultural Center

Akiha Ward Cultural Center
© Taisuke Ogawa

AKIHA WARD CULTURAL CENTER

Chiaki Arai Urban and Architecture Design

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Tis&partners

ELECTRICAL SERVICES
Sakaden And Yae And Saito Joint Venture

SANITARY SERVICES
Nisshin Kogyo Co.ltd.

GAS SERICES
Echigotennen Gas Co.ltd. Niigata Branch

CONTRACTOR
Taisei And Shinko And Tanaka Joint Venture

 DESIGN TEAM
Chiaki Arai, Ryoichi Yoshizaki, Tomonori Niimi, Akira Sog

ACOUSTICAL CONSULTANT
Nagata Acoustics

THEATER CONSULTANT
Theatre Workshop

INTERIOR
Chiaki Arai Urban And Architecture Design

LANDSCAPE
Chiaki Arai Urban And Architecture Design

ENGINEERING AND AIR CONDITIONING
Sogo Consultans

AIR CONDITIONING
Niigata Kogyo Co.

PHOTOGRAPHS
Taisuke Ogawa

AREA
2997 M²

YEAR
2013

LOCATION
Akiha Ward, Japan

CATEGORY
Theater, Cultural Center

Text description provided by architect.

Located in a district famous for railway industry in Niigata city, Akiha Ward Cultural Center is a 3000m2 public theater with 496 seats. This building is designed to be the cultural incubator for the locals who have long-waited for it.

Akiha Ward Cultural Center
© Taisuke Ogawa
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
© Taisuke Ogawa

Sitting on a 17000m2 former baseball field, the structure, landscape and parking are organized along the arc of baseball field to evoke the site memory.

The surrounding area is a residential district on a vast flatland with few small hills. Following some characteristics of some hills, the global formation of the building is terraced landscapes where people can mount and take in the panoramic view.

Akiha Ward Cultural Center
© Taisuke Ogawa
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
© Taisuke Ogawa

The planning has been developed through workshops with the locals. Several rooms and functions were added in response to their requests. From the competition phase, countless transformations changed the building outline from a precise circle to a distorted circular form composed of 46 different arcs.

The planning diagram is stratified in the order of exterior corridor, entrance lobby, functional rooms, backstage corridor, the main hall. Due to the simple diagram, several functional rooms such as practice rooms and dressing rooms can be used from both entrance lobby and backstage corridor.

Akiha Ward Cultural Center
© Taisuke Ogawa
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
© Taisuke Ogawa

This improves operational availability. To accommodate the gap between the global formation and the planning based on the workshop, the structural concrete walls are bent and twisted to reach the balanced support points of the roof slabs.

The main hall is like a concrete cave under a hill. The structural element itself works as acoustic reflectors which give extraordinary acoustics by the force of its high specific gravity.

The heavy solid wall and ceiling can reflect the lower sound ranges which conventional wall materials absorb. This provides us with special experiences which makes you feel as if you were at the concert in a natural cave, and not in a building.

Akiha Ward Cultural Center
© Taisuke Ogawa
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
© Taisuke Ogawa

To optimize the acoustic effect, the concrete structure is perforated like a net, and the porous aluminum sheets are installed in the holes as acoustic absorbent. Interior finish of the concrete structure of the hall is fully-dabbed for sound diffusion.

With the lighting effects, the solid concrete looks sometimes massive, sometimes weightless, and implies warmth of human hands.


Akiha Ward Cultural Center
North Elevation
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
South Elevation
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
West Elevation
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
East Elevation


Akiha Ward Cultural Center
Second Floor Plan
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
First Floor Plan
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
Third Floor Plan
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
Site Plan


Akiha Ward Cultural Center
Section
Akiha Ward Cultural Center
Diagram

Chiaki Arai Urban & Architecture Design
T +81 3 37605411 F +81 3 37605415
Chiaki Arai Urban & Architecture Design
2-14-19-2F Yutenji, Meguro-Ku,Tokyo 153-0052, Japan