This is a hair salon located on a local roadside. Cars come and go all day long on the front road and most of the surrounding area is occupied by parking. But three-fourths of the city area is covered in forest, where forestry is flourishing here and timber has long been transported down the river. Although the utilization of local resources is being promoted, the transition to wooden non-residential low-rise buildings has not progressed. The client requested bright spaces, ventilation performance effective against viruses, and a sustainable architecture to ensure them. Is it possible to create a architecture naturally that reflects these diverse situations? Rather than thinking about the design or form, we started thinking about architecturally recombining the activities of hair salon, the cityscape, culture, and things.
Cut spaces with large mirrors (RC walls) that exceed human scale are arranged in a staggered manner, and large wooden counters (CLT roofs) are placed between them. They are joined using the same simple construction method as furniture using only angles and screws. RC walls can handle out-of-plane loads, and CLT roofs create long-span frames without beams. They use right materials in right places for fire resistance and environmental performance, and maximize the expression of wood grain while reducing weight, heat load, and cost. Indirect light shines in from between the roofs, and the wind flowing along the roofs promotes effective gravity ventilation without raising hairs. Plantings are amplified by reflection, creating an environment surrounded by greenery. By replacing the timber that was once carried away with roofs floating in the blue sky and incorporating the reflections of cars on the roadside, the flowing landscape of the past and present is superimposed on the architecture. The small activity elements of the hair salon transcend meaning, purpose, and scale, creating a natural architecture in which things are mixed.
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