Magical Works of Architecture by Tokyo-based Jun Aoki & Associates.

Tokyo-based architecture studio Jun Aoki & Associates has completed many, many eyeball-pleasing and thought-provoking projects over the last 25 years of practice, ranging in scale and scope – from houses, galleries and temporary installations, to religious buildings, commercial towers and even a series of stores for Louis Vuitton. So, you know, Jun Aoki is kind of a big deal.

Having graduated from Tokyo University, Aoki worked at Arata Isozaki & Associates before establishing his own practice in 1991 to do “anything that seemed interesting”. Subsequent works have included diverse directions such as a series of houses, public architecture, and fashion boutiques. Some of the more notable projects include a swimming pool at YUSUIKAN (1993) that investigates some of the themes of the more recent project, FUKUSHIMA LAGOON MUSEUM (1997) which won the Architectural Institute of Japan Annual Award, the AOMORI MUSEUM OF ART, the Grand Award of the international competition completed in 2005 and opened in 2006. His first monograph ‘Jun Aoki Complete Works 1’ was published in October 2004, simultaneously with another book ‘Harappa to Yuuenchi (vacant lot and amusement ground)’ which features a collection of his written texts. The second monograph ‘Jun Aoki complete Works 2: Aomori Museum of Art’ and the reprinted edition of Kenchiku-Bunka Jun Aoki 1991-1999 were published in 2006.

Below is a selection of the projects which left me weak at the knees, so I though it was only fair I should share the love. And the knee shakes.

N House (2007-2009) is located in the new suburb of Tokyo, surrounded by commercialised dwellings. The interior is minimal and mostly white, with the spiral staircase acting as the hero within the space. The smooth rounded edges of the balustrade sit in stark contrast with the sharpness of the rest of the interior, and give this space a futuristic bend. And somehow the whole mix just works.  Love. (P.S. Somewhat reminds me of this project, if you’re keen for a bit of further reading.)

J House (2007) features a series of square openings within each room. These openings frame the views beyond – cherry tree in the garden, sky over the neighbouring house or the scenery of the next room. “Our intention is to equalise the scenery in and outside the house. This way we will create an inner world in a room, as an island floating on the ocean surrounded by the outside world.”

M House (2012) is a three-story dwelling in Tokyo residential area, which features seven internal terraces situated along the thermally insulated exterior wall. These terraces are intended to connect the rooms to secure openness and sufficient ventilation, which on a bigger scale, act as a possible prototype for urban residential planning.

G House (2004) takes it’s literal house-like form from timber construction set on top of a reinforced concrete podium. The house consists of two interlocking volumes – the inner podium contains the living areas, while the outer skin acts as “leftover space” designed to function as an enormous skylight for the podium.

GO SEES HIROO (2008) is a composition of three rental photo studios, two underground and one on the ground level. There is a lot to love about this project, but the use of simple light bulbs against mirror joints is particularly cunning.

XEL-HA BY AFLOAT (2005) features a tricky ceiling that acts as the building facade – the salon is situated on the third floor of a commercial building, so when looking up from the street, only the ceiling is visible through the glass windows. The ceiling also acts as the luminous source for the building. The curve forms, reminiscent of hair locks (one would assume), are made from semi-transparent white “warlon” sheets (plastic laminated washi), commonly used for lamp shades as they emit optimum diffused light. Despite the exposed light source, the plastic sheets block the direct glare into the eyes from all viewing angles. The ceiling surface is transformed into a luminous flare and bears a feeling of a gigantic cloud in the sky. Underneath the clouds, a landscape of elegant furniture and slender joinery opens up, limited to the simple colour scheme of dark brown and stainless steel. Heaven!

TARO NASU (2008) gallery in Tokyo is the second space designed by Jun Aoki & Associates for Taro Nasu, the first being built in Osaka in 2006. The Tokyo location features a brightly lit downstairs gallery with office space located above it. Something about the contrast between the crusty building on the left, and the crisp beauty of the new gallery building just talk to me, you know.

TARO NASU Bambi (2006) was Jun Aoki’s solo show was an extension of TARO NASU OSAKA gallery, which the architect also designed. The installation was a visualisation of the characteristics and essential qualities of the space, based around luminous three-dimensional works. TARO NASU OSAKA’s interior is composed of 450mm square timber-cement boards. Aoki’s idea was to transform these into a collection of works that branch out “like fawn’s antlers”. The boards were considered as cells that composed the space, and by mutating these cells Aoki intended to change the very qualities of the space itself. The installation was undertaken in collaboration with Yuko Aondo (Textile Designer) and Izumi Okayasu (Lighting Engineer).

JIN CO., LTD. Office Building (2006) is located in the suburbs of Maebashi-city. Three storied building, consists of the work space and warehouse on the 1st floor, office on the 2nd floor and the conference room and the staff canteen on the 3rd floor. The facade of the 1st and the 2nd floor is covered by the perforated folded plate, which previously features in our roundup of Perfectly Perforated buildings. Obviously.

Louis Vuitton Matsuya Ginza (2013) has a facade inspired by the history of Ginza – part of Tokyo that used to be known for its art deco references. Ginza was the entrance of Tokyo, adjacent to Shimbashi, from which the very first railway station of Japan stretched to the port, and led to the foreign countries. The pattern of the facade is derived from art deco patterns and edo-komon (the pattern of traditional Tokyo). Based on Louis Vuitton’s monogram, which is also a repeated geometric pattern, the façade of the store become the architects’ first softer version of LV ‘Damier’, imbued with delicacy and richness. “From edo-komon to art deco. Art deco to the soft damier. This is a journey to the history of Ginza.”

Gentle bulges and dents elaborate the façade and add to it’s three-dimensional complexity. With these patterns, the façade reveals various appearances in sunlight, and also during the night when the LED lights illuminate the reliefs, rendering the façade with another expression reminiscent of Louis Vuitton’s monogram.

White Chapel (2008) is a small religious building located within the site of Hyatt Regency Osaka. The chapel is used for wedding ceremonies and accommodates 80 people. The structure consists of square steel rings measuring 60cm in diameter, with sides of 25mm, which are interlocked three-dimensionally. One virtual unit is a 3D truncated tetrahedron, and the combined units fill up the space. The three-dimensional layout of the ring corresponds to the array of the circle, inscribed in the 4 regular hexagons within the unit. Steel rings are welded together, forming a foam-like three-dimensional grid which supports the roof.

FIBRE (2004) was an exhibition design for the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. The basic unit of the installation is a layer of transparent nylon fibres used for fishing nets. These 6m long fibres were arranged at 10mm intervals, measuring 18m in width. These where combined to form three nine-layer semitransparent curtains and one 14-layer semitransparent curtain, arranged at 100mm intervals. The curtains divided the gallery space into five separate zones. Lighting was programmed to change in intensity over time, altering the viewers perception of transparencies and the depth of the overall space. Cunning.

SIA AOYAMA (2008) is a high-rise office building that stands in the middle of the commercial district Omotesando. The area contains of a mix of residential buildings and office blocks. Therefore, this building was designed so it visually didn’t classify into either of the two categories – a tower-like monolith with a seamless smooth surface, with window openings scaled to feel residential in nature. The building is 64m high, but consists of only 9 stories, with a typical ceilings reaching 4.9m in height. As a result, even the minimised window area provides sufficient natural light to flow consistently to the full depth of the building. So clever.

[Images courtesy of Jun Aoki & Associates. Photography by Daici Ano.]