On the Corner
Koichi Torimura

On the Corner

EASTERN Design Office as Architects

A castle where the boys and girls of the story of Michael Ende could be entering. It is a triangular building configured by the square elements!

photo_credit Koichi Torimura
Koichi Torimura

On the corner ------------- The site is a manufacturing area in Youkaichi City in Shiga Prefecture. There are many big factories in this town. A lot of immigrants from South America live here among the local people. This is a residential area as well an industrial area. It is also a popular drinking area where many bars and restaurants for such common people are scattered. There is a highway interchange nearby the town. The shape of the lot is a sharp triangle which is unusual for building a house.

photo_credit Koichi Torimura
Koichi Torimura

The site is a wedge-shaped flatiron lot which remained at a corner where two streets meet at an acute angel. It was left behind neither residential nor for industrial development. No one wanted to buy it, and the public sector would not invest to change it into a park: a lot remained bereft of

photo_credit Koichi Torimura
Koichi Torimura

The elevation of this building takes the shape of the triangle plot. It is a triangular residential complex of 13 meters height with the base line 23m x height 12m x oblique line 26m. It is a typical tenanted apartment house with seven rooms, 1-3rd two units on each floor and one on the 4th floor. Each room is composed of a living room of 13 m2, two bed rooms with 13 m2 and 9m2, a prefabricated bathroom, a kitchen system and a toilet. They are planned to be easy to rent for town people.

photo_credit Koichi Torimura
Koichi Torimura

The concrete which serves as a structure is designed carefully. Other than that specific materials are not used here. The exterior wall is made out of square cut stone, concrete and glass formed like scattered cards on it. They are bound by a “cross” so that the spread out material would not disjoin. It looks like a present, a toy box or a castle where the boys and girls of the story of Michael Ende could be entering. It is a triangular building configured by the square elements. The cross confines the power of the mixed materials into one.

photo_credit Koichi Torimura
Koichi Torimura

A shuffle of stones, concretes, and glass. Keen edge of each material is too sharp. A shuffle of mass and void. The design “on the corner” consists of blue and the cross. A composition of line and plane surface is created by the clearly distinguished edges of the material.

The confusing imagination is created to make the so far disregarded place interesting, which lies at the corner of messy scenery in an inner city

photo_credit Koichi Torimura
Koichi Torimura

It belongs to no one. It is nothing. It does not belong to anything. It does not belong to any country.

The edge of the triangular pyramid is like a wrecked boat, a fictional tip of a boat as if it were escaping from town. Where on earth is here? A corner that makes you feel you are nowhere at the end of the world, where no one can go further anymore. It is far from the center of town, a place which makes you wonder where you are. It is a place to make the town to be nowhere but only here, and it makes you feel like a distinguished person.

Caption

We want to highlight the discarded lot from the urban framework by emphasizing its shape, building architecture similar to illusion. An illusion required by the town people. Reality that is similar to an illusion that one town has something to do with someone. It seems as if this illusion deceives people to obscure their eyesight and feel invited to another world. It is pretentious, yet it is surrealistic too.

Caption

Read story in 日本語

Featured Projects
Latest Products
News
Door MVRDV ontworpen NIO House in Rotterdam geopend
24 Mar 2023 News
MVRDV-designed NIO House in Rotterdam opened

A multifunctional showroom for electric car brand NIO opened in Rotterdam on Thursday. The Chinese c... More

10 quaint wall coverings that can add personality to your bedroom
24 Mar 2023 Specification
10 quaint wall coverings that can add personality to your bedroom

The bedroom is a sacred space, a place where one can retreat from the world and unwind after a long... More

Prague’s Vltavska underground transformed into a vibrant public space for freestyle activities
24 Mar 2023 News
Prague’s Vltavska underground transformed into a vibrant public space for freestyle activities

Once a transport intersection avoided by citizens of Prague, U/U studio has replaced vacancy and dar... More

Rocky Hill Memorial Museum by Crone finds meaning through form and materiality
23 Mar 2023 News
Rocky Hill Memorial Museum by Crone finds meaning through form and materiality

Completed in 1925 as a tribute to the men and women of Goulburn, Australia, who served during World... More

Moody and seductive Sushi Zen by LDH Design opens in Beijing
22 Mar 2023 News
Moody and seductive Sushi Zen by LDH Design opens in Beijing

At No. 33 Wusi Street in Beijing’s Dongcheng District, LDH Design has recently completed works... More

KMR rethinks wooden residential construction with metal sheet façade and plywood louvres in Japan
22 Mar 2023 News
KMR rethinks wooden residential construction with metal sheet façade and plywood louvres in Japan

Surrounded by rice paddy fields and rural scenery with farmhouses dispersed throughout the countrysi... More

Chaix & Morel transform a former fire station into a creative urban centre in Paris
22 Mar 2023 News
Chaix & Morel transform a former fire station into a creative urban centre in Paris

The adaptive reuse of existing buildings is of great importance in Paris, especially when it comes t... More

10 impactful residential dining tables
20 Mar 2023 News
10 impactful residential dining tables

Residential dining tables are designed to meet all sorts of aesthetic preferences and are sized to m... More