BREAD, ESPRESSO & JIYUGATA

Tokyo, Japan

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Substrate Factory Ayase

BREAD, ESPRESSO & JIYUGATA

Tokyo, Japan

Firm

Aki Hamada Architects

Type

Commercial › Retail

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2017

SIZE

0 sqft - 1000 sqft

BUDGET

Undisclosed

A plan for a bakery & café in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo. Located on the third floor of a complex facility, the shop site has superb views of the sky through a terrace on one side and a large glass wall on the other side. A dynamic space was pursued by smoothly connecting the boundaries of the indoors/outdoors or boundaries between elements such as walls, windows, shelves, and chairs, while enhancing the identity of the site. For this narrow flat-shaped site, boundary conditions were determined based on the existing structure, traffic lines, and human scale, in order to achieve a proper arrangement of fixtures (e.g., bread display shelves, and counters) and smooth human traffic. By simulating tension for these conditions, curved surfaces were determined and formed the surfaces in this space.
For precise construction of free-form surfaces, 2-dimensional developments of board shapes were calculated to be enable paneling along tertiary curved surfaces. The curvy surfaces appear to be plastered, but are actually made by a highly versatile method of sticking dry boards using 2-dimensional development calculations. Democratization of the free shape was explored while attending to rather common construction processes.

Every form of life has some meaning. We desired to create shapes adapted to an environment and the movement of human, like a life-form that is adapted to nature. A wooden board as a bone – a boundary condition determined by a network of relationships – is covered by a white curvy wall as a continuous skin with tension. Various stories will be born in such a space, we believe. There are some reasons for peculiar shapes to be created. We aimed to create a place in which the meaning of the place would be misinterpreted, yet the place would accept various interpretations of visitors.