This project is a showroom/office for Antiquorum, a leading antique watch auction house. The site is truly unique as it is located directly across the street from a historical landmark building, the Bank of Japan Headquarters, and is flanked by the Nihonbashi River. The challenges were to fit a showroom, office, and reception area in the very limited space of 45 square meters and to finish design and construction within six weeks. Due to the large amount of auction catalogue display and storage requirements, we chose to focus on creating one big "shelf". The shelf would also separate the office from the showroom, act as storage, and host the reception window all at the same time. The volume of this shelf was then sliced into layers so each could be CNC routered. The intention of this layering wasto create a massive volume with a presence while maintaining a certain airy and light quality. The layered composition serves as a metaphor of the mechanical gears inside a watch. Based on the budget and choice of material, that of 18mm birch plywood, we set a limit of 70 sheets to be cut. The balance of the shape, spacing and opening are carefully calculated within this limit. Additionally, all cut-out pieces are used for the other furniture within the space thus using all of the allowed material and leaving very little waste. The layers of plywood are tied together by rods arranged in a grid, with 35mm spacing between each layer giving the entire structure more airiness than weight. Office desks and meeting tables, stools, and box shelves on the wall are made out of the cut-out pieces from the main shelf in order to maximize the economics of the entire construction. For example, the plywood boards cut to form the reception desk window are recomposed to form a cloud-like table. The smaller square cut-outs also became box shelves on the wall of the office. As a result, each of the shapes in this space complement each other and therefore enhance a sense of integrity.
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