TBC Gakuin is the largest group of colleges in the northern Kanto region. This project was a commission to design a new professional cooking school located in Utsunomiya. The concept was to create “spaces for learning that would excite and stimulate the five senses”. Symbolic colors and hues associated with particular foods - yellow for pineapples, orange for pumpkins, pink for strawberry shortcake, green for mint, and so on – were extracted from this space for learning about food and cuisine, and incorporated into its design.
Four thematic colors, each in five tones, were used on each floor of the building – yellows for the classrooms and teaching offices on the second floor, pinks for the cake and bread-baking labs on the third floor, greens for the cooking labs on the fourth floor, and blues for the café on the fifth floor. The first floor was turned into a multi-colored space incorporating all the shades used on the second through fifth floors, transforming it into a lively and animated hub where students can go back and forth, as well as gather together.
Colorful lobby chairs were placed in the first floor entrance hall, which constitutes the public face of the school. These chairs create a dynamic series of colored lines that seem to flow in a continuous stream from the reception area to the demonstration room. A staggered, stage-like staircase in the demonstration room features a rising section in bright colors, while the walls on either side are painted in contrasting dark shades, creating a generous feeling of breadth that seems to expand outward both vertically and horizontally. Students can choose to sit on any of the 17 differently colored chairs.
The gradations of similar hues and square motifs used on the interior walls give students the sensation of strolling through a series of light, nimble rhythms and colors.
