aki hamada constructs adaptable building in japan with shifting façades

a fully, openable wooden structure was the concept aki hamada architects followed while completing the ‘substrate factory ayase’, a multipurpose office space located in kanagawa, japan.

a fully, openable wooden structure was the concept aki hamada architects followed while completing the ‘substrate factory ayase’, a multipurpose office space located in kanagawa, japan. the scheme acts as an extension to an existing circuit board factory where the ground floor was originally planned as a workshop. as the brief developed, the project led onto becoming a flexible program where the ground floor now serves as multi-purpose space for the wider community.

factories and residential houses coexist in the neighborhood where the project is sited. aki hamada architects took this into consideration which led to their response in creating a building that would mediate the relationship between a factory and a house. as a result, the building would manifest into a community space for locals to gather and use together.

in order to control visibility from the road side and modulate the daylight from the east side of the building, the outer envelope featuring walls of sliding grills can be adjusted in according to the sun in the morning to evening. three patterns of vertical grills are visible with the orientation and angle of each wall different depending on the façade.

almost every element of the building has been designed with the intention of being reconfigurated. the structural frame itself can accommodate various conditions and requirements and the open-plan nature adaptable due to the japanese-style, washi sliding screens installed across both floors. this allows endless configurations of the sizing of individual spaces that can be created to facilitate different uses and the number of users.