JINS Ohtone Store

Saitama, Japan

Add To Collection

Other Projects by Tadashi Hirai Design Studio

Add To Collection

JINS Ohtone Store

Saitama, Japan

Firm

Tadashi Hirai Design Studio

Type

Commercial › Retail

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2022

SIZE

0 sqft - 1000 sqft

JINS Ohtone Store, a roadside establishment for the eyewear brand "JINS" in Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture, is an architectural endeavor deeply rooted in its unique site characteristics—an area rich with the abundant waterways of the Tone River system. The design seeks profound harmony with its local environment.

Responding to the palpable presence of the "great river" evoked by the numerous surrounding waterways, we pursued an architectural form intrinsically tied to this specific location. Although the road fronting the site was developed through land readjustment, it gently curves, preserving the memory of ancient rivers and canals. Embracing this topographical context, the building's overall layout evokes a natural "river flow." Concurrently, to ensure visibility from a nearby large commercial facility, the floor plan is articulated with a distinctive dogleg bend.

The tubular space, defined by repetitive steel frames, creates a continuous spatial experience where, at these dogleg inflection points, the interior seamlessly transitions into an exterior eaves space, and vice versa. At these junctures, the interior space narrows most significantly, dramatically intensifying its connection to the outside. By integrating greenery that blurs the indoor-outdoor boundary and providing a permeable entrance accessible from the sidewalk, we aimed to create an inviting, open space where the distinction between inside and outside is fluid, encouraging casual visits. If this open-ended tubular space is envisioned as a "river," the constricted sections evoke "stepping stones," offering a unique, site-specific experience of lightly traversing from bank to bank.

In this manner, JINS Ohtone Store was conceived as a retail space that architecturally elevates its natural and historical context, delivering a rich spatial experience obtainable only at this particular location.