Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects

Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - Fence, HandrailArchery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - BeamArchery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - Image 4 of 22Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - BeamArchery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - More Images+ 17

  • Architects: FT Architects
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  198
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2013
  • Photographs
    Photographs:Shigeo Ogawa
Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - Image 9 of 22
© Shigeo Ogawa

pace

The project consists of two buildings, an archery hall and a boxing club, standing a few hundred meters apart on the grounds of Kogakuin University in west Tokyo. The formal rituals of Kyudo (Japanese archery) and the aggressive nature of boxing may appear worlds apart. However, the two built facilities surprisingly share a number of commonalities.

Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - Beam
© Shigeo Ogawa

The University’s brief was for low-cost structures made of locally sourced timber to provide accessible and inspiring spaces for the students. Coincidently, both facilities called for a column-free space of 7.2m by 10.8m, a size comparable to the sacred hall in a traditional Japanese temple. In order to achieve this span, without columns and using low-cost methods of timber construction, it was necessary to come up with an innovative timber solution. We began the project by investigating a number of structural forms that would be appropriate for each sport.

Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - Image 15 of 22
© Shigeo Ogawa
Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - Image 11 of 22
© Shigeo Ogawa

underlying principles

Through collaborative exploration with timber experts, researchers, manufacturers and suppliers, we derived timber construction systems that are not commonly associated with structural or architectural usage. Small timber sections, normally reserved for furniture making, were chosen for the archery hall, and timber members that were deemed defected because of insect damage, for the boxing club.

Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - Beam
© Shigeo Ogawa

We have salvaged the purity of traditional Japanese timber composition, simply made up of horizontals and verticals, which has been somewhat disregarded ever since the advent of modernism in Japan. Delicate lattice frame composed of slender ties beams and posts for the archery hall, and a bolder, stepped frame, was employed for the boxing club. Timber, a historical material, has now been reanalysed and transformed into a new building material.

Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - Windows, Beam, Column
© Shigeo Ogawa

contrast /complement

The two structures have been constructed employing a simple, low-tech method of bolt-and-nut assembly. However, due to the scale of the space and simplicity of construction, the execution had to be meticulous, in order to produce spaces that are out of the ordinary.

Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - Beam
© Shigeo Ogawa

For each building, the main subject is the 7.2m x 10.8m space and the timber structure, merely its backdrop. The powerful presence of the timber structure emphasises the stark transparency of the void below. The whole is only achieved by the juxtaposition of these two contrasting and complementing qualities. Departing from the same starting point, the two buildings have arrived at a shared architectural theme via two different structural and spatial solutions. 

Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects - Facade, Windows
© Shigeo Ogawa

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Project location

Address:Tokyo, Japan

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Archery Hall & Boxing Club / FT Architects" 06 Nov 2013. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/444857/timber-structure-archery-hall-and-boxing-club-ft-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

© Shigeo Ogawa

射箭馆和拳击馆 / FT Architects

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