Hanamidori Cultural Center / Atelier Bow-Wow

Architects: Atelier Bow-Wow / Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Momoyo kaijima, Shun Takagi
Location: Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan
Client: Showa Kinen Park Office
Commission year: 2002
Construction year: 2005
Function: Museum
Site Area: 6031 sqm
Constructed area: 5480 sqm

This is a facility that intensively combines various functions of information dissemination and exchange associated with the Green Culture Zone, newly opened within the Showa Memorial Park.

The basic concept was for a “growing architecture”, in response to the developing activities of green culture, and for “parkitecture”: architecture integrating with landscape, in which interior and exterior are connected. Our intention was for a space as comfortable as in the shade of a tree that would provide support for park activities.

The building consists of 15 cylinders varied by size, structure and materials, supporting an undulating roof covered by green. Under a large overarching roof, the interior space is defined by a glass enclosure, and visually connected with the exterior space. Every cylinder contains a different room for a specific purpose, and is treated as an independent building. One feels like they are walking in a city where only circle buildings exist. Workshop, exhibition, café, library; the use of space between cylinders can be defined and reorganized by a series of furniture.

Floor materials and the finishes of the cylinders were chosen based on assumed uses of training, workshops and other activities appropriate to an external plaza, and in each activity zone natural materials were employed that could mediate exterior and interior. Similarly to the way the gallery spaces provide an interior that feels similar to an exterior.

During good weather, the operable elements can be opened up, using sash devices to enable an unhindered connection to the exterior.

The roof trusses are formed by radial extended T-bar from the cylinders, and are synthesized in the manner of a spider’s web. The trusses become higher at the connection with cylinder due to its moment diagram, producing a crater topography like on the moon. These craters receive a thick layer of soil to implant large trees, and the overall roof becomes green floating garden.