completion

1997.09

location

Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

photo

Hiroyuki Hirai

In Shinjuku, one of the biggest shopping areas in Tokyo, many departments stands close to one another. This shop was placed in the eighth floor in one of them. It was planned as a first and a prototype in a series of shops. Materials are limestone for the floor, aluminum spandrel for the wall, aluminum plate for fixtures and so on, these are not so strong materials but they possess delicate materiality. And I imagined a space with contemporary atmosphere that can be created by organizing and selecting carefully the materials. I composed the hanger fixtures with a glass screen in printed stripe patterns in a controlled height. These glass screens while leading people to go into the shop also fulfill their function as a buffer between the space of the shop and the bustling passage. In this first project, I have chosen as a theme the issue of an enclosed space that is at the same time an open space.