SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho

SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose

SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho

Saisei Kenchiku Laboratory

STRUCTURE ENGINEERING
Sskk Laboratory

ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHITECTS
Keiichiro Taniguchi

LIGHTING DESIGNER
Izumi Okayasu

PHOTOGRAPHS
Tomoyuki Kusunose

AREA
602 M²

YEAR
2022

LOCATION
Japan

CATEGORY
Coffee Shop, Office Buildings, Adaptive Reuse

This project is to legalize and utilize a 53-year-old illegal building in Kanda Nishiki-cho. Both sides of the building had public open space, but because the building was blocked there, it was not being used effectively.

SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose
SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose

We try to create a new public façade that would enhance the value of both the building and the surrounding open space through the process of legalizing the illegal state of the building by "reducing the structure ".

The exterior wall line was set back to the same level as both adjacent buildings, the floor was reduced, and the existing frame was left in place.

This allowed a "thick surface" with the existing frame overlaid on the new setback facade to appear in the public open space.

SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose
SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose
SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose

By reducing the structure, minimal earthquake reinforcement was achieved without restricting the way of using the place, and the amount of reinforcement was successfully reduced to approximately 30%.

The existing building was planned to maximize the private area and minimize the common area. By reducing the building, the void, which runs through the entire floor from the basement level, was recreated as a common space with evacuation routes, vertical flow lines, lighting, and facilities, exposing it to the city.

SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose
SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose

In addition, the atrium space takes in light from the north and functions as environmental equipment that serves as a wind catch for the breezes created by the buildings.

The balcony space created by the reduction of the structure has the character of "inside like outside" and "outside like inside," respectively, and the existing homogeneous space has been transformed into a space with two faces.

SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose
SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose

These two aspects are continuously connected by the U-shaped one-room plan. The "thicker surface" created by the "reduced structure" creates a public area within the city, a space that enhances the value of offices and existing public open space.

We hope that the process of legalization will renew the architectural and urban framework and trigger a chain reaction of “SAISEI” culture in the area.

SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose
SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
© Tomoyuki Kusunose

What's SAISEI? SAISEI is a core concept of how we face architecture. SAISEI does not mean preserving and extending the life of everything through renovation.

Regardless of any method used, such as new construction or renovation of existing buildings, "SAISEI" is a state of rebirth in which the memories and culture of a place are carefully read and understood, and the atmosphere and atmosphere of the place are inherited.


SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
Isometric
SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
Section


SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
Plan - 1st Floor
SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
Plan - Before
SAISEI Office Building in Kandanishikicho
Plan - 4th Floor