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Architects: Hiroyuki Ito Architects
- Area: 816 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Masao Nishikawa
PRISM Inn Ogu / A hotel for long-term stays - The project is located on a site close to the city center and is easily accessible from the airport. Traditionally, hotel rooms that can accommodate a group of four or five people together are relatively scarce in Tokyo and, if available, are often restrictively expensive. Here, the aim was to facilitate the accommodation of larger families and groups, particularly overseas visitors from Asia. The resulting design needed to be finely balanced so that each guest could feel equally comfortable when staying together as part of a large group of people or when staying in a smaller group.
Owing to the tower’s height, it was initially expected that the column-and-beam system would be overbearingly large; however, by segmenting the space with the structural frame, a suitable distance between beds was more effectively achieved than could have otherwise been using partitions or curtains. A fluid and dynamic space was created through a staggered column arrangement, withholding the placement of columns at the intersection of perpendicular beams. This was chosen over a standard grid layout with columns at each corner of the building, as not only would this have restricted a sense of spaciousness, but based on the dimensioning of beds, it would have meant the available distance between columns was too small.
The intermediate reinforced concrete beams that support the loft floor were arranged as windmill sails, and in reversing the direction of these between the upper and lower floors, the rigidity of the entire building was improved. The varying height of the windows on the façade has been carefully composed, mediated by both the internal furniture arrangement and external conditions. This continuous strip of glazing permits light in from three directions to produce as many comfortable internal spaces as possible.
Intermediate horizontal beams have been used to divide vertical columns into two, creating new negative spaces both above and below. In doing so, these intermediate beams can also be seen to fuse two columns into one large-scale structural object. Throughout, the structure corresponds to the scale of the body and presents places for people to inhabit by use as spatial dividers, doorways, nooks for beds, or even as seating. Yet, the structure as a larger whole still simultaneously transcends the human scale and continues to retain its autonomy as a constructive element.
