Photographer: Shigeo Ogawa | ArchDaily

Coffee or Tea: Third Places, Kiosks, and the Retail Architecture of Duration

Jonathan Yeung — Sun, 24 May 2026 07:30:00 +0000

"Coffee or tea?" is one of those phrases that follows you across contexts: asked on airplanes, after a meal, in hotel lounges, and in meeting rooms. It sounds like a small question—mere preference, a quick fork in the service script. Yet it also carries a quiet cultural inheritance. Tea arrives with the long history of ritual and domestic pacing, tied to older geographies of trade and everyday etiquette. Coffee arrives with a different lineage of circulation, later industrialized into the modern café and its public-facing rituals. In both cases, the drink is never only a drink; it is a practiced relationship to time and space.

Juzen Chemical Corporation Head Office / KEY OPERATION INC. / ARCHITECTS

Miwa Negoro — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Juzen Chemical Corporation, founded in 1950 in Toyama City, is a contract manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Situated between the Jintsu River and the Fugan Canal within an industrial park, the company decided to consolidate its dispersed offices, meeting rooms, and cafeteria into a new headquarters. The new building not only addresses operational efficiency but also reflects Toyama's natural environment and cultural heritage, while offering a workplace that enhances employee well-being and connects with the surrounding community.

From Tradition to Innovation: How Modern Technologies are Transforming the Potential of Wood

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Wood, one of the oldest building materials, has been continuously reinvented throughout history. As contemporary architecture becomes more and more concerned with sustainability and environmental responsibility, the popularity of the material has also increased. As trees absorb carbon dioxide during their growth, their wood stores that carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere. The materials derived from wood are thus associated with less greenhouse gas emissions on the condition of trees being harvested from sustainably managed forests. But in order to capture the full potential of this material, a plethora of techniques and modifications have evolved with the purpose of adapting and customizing wood's characteristics to the demands of modern design and construction. From thermal modification to engineered wood or versatile particle boards, these methods not only enhance wood's suitability for the rigors of contemporary architecture but also expand the usability of this sustainable material to an unprecedented scale.

Shonan Institute of Technology High School Library / kousou + Fukei Co.

Miwa Negoro — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The library building at Shonan Institute of Technology High School was planned in response to the aging of the original library building. We proposed to merge the library building with some of the classroom buildings, which were also deteriorating. The plan is approximately 30m x 26m and is characterized by a pentagonal plan shape. It is a three-story building with a maximum height of approximately 14 meters, and the floor heights are 3.5 meters, 4.5 meters, and 5.5 meters, in ascending order from the first floor, with higher heights on the upper floors.

The Rest Space at the Top of Mt.Rokko / ofa

Andreas Luco — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

As part of improving the value and environment of Mt. Rokko, one of the attractions of the city of Kobe, there is a plan for a public toilet/rest space and a garden newly built in the area at the top of Mt. Rokko. A thin wooden roof that folds in response to the mountains floats lightly on a bench that looks like a large piece of furniture. With the colors of trees and finishes that harmonize with the nature of the national park, it blends in with the environment of Mt. Rokko and creates a relaxing landscape.

Hayama Huts / KEY OPERATION INC. / ARCHITECTS

Hana Abdel — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 18:00:00 +0000

A villa fronting a private drive is a three-minute walk from Isshiki Beach. The Hayama area was a fishing village up until the Edo Period, but resort construction began there in the Meiji Era for the Emperor, Imperial lineage, and renowned people. Houses line the narrow lanes remaining from fishing village times. Since the property steps downhill from the north to south, southside properties are in plain view from the north.

Ouloukyo House / A.A.E.

Hana Abdel — Mon, 29 May 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Ouloukyo is a living space around a Sakura tree.

House in Sashiogi / Waro Kishi + K.ASSOCIATES/Architects

Thuto Vilakazi — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 01:00:00 +0000

Open-Plan Updated: In the outskirts of Tokyo, this residence finds itself in the middle of the countryside, surrounded by fields and buildings scattered around. The site is almost 300 sq.m., more than sufficient for a small residence. The immediate thought that came into my mind, when I visited the site for the first time, was that an open-plan, one-story house would be good for this environment.

House on Nishinokyo-Hills / Waro Kishi + K.ASSOCIATES/Architects

Thuto Vilakazi — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 20:00:00 +0000

This is a house for a small family of husband+wife+child, located on the outskirts of Nara. A parking space facing the road in front, extends the full width of the front opening, as to accommodate all the cars for daily use and the motorbikes for the owner’s hobby. This is why the façade is set back to give space to the parking area. The building itself projects a closed image, except for the hobby area on the first floor, which is a wide open space with glass openings facing the collection of motorbikes.

Katsura Library at Kyoto University / Waro Kishi + K.ASSOCIATES/Architects

Hana Abdel — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 18:00:00 +0000

The Faculty of Engineering of Kyoto University, originally located at the main campus of Hyakumanben in the northeast part of Kyoto City, has followed the gradual move to a new campus in Katsura, the western part of Kyoto. This new Katsura campus was built with strict image control, to create a unified theme for the entire campus. And the project this time was to set up a new library for the Katsura campus. In 2015, we were assigned to come up with a proposal for building this library, to be submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Science. The site was already designated in the total campus plan. It faced the office wing of the Faculty of Engineering, with a distant view over a bamboo forest, of the streets of Kyoto City to the east. The first plan was made in conjunction with the guidelines from the Faculty of Engineering.

The Wall of Tolerance House / T2P Architects Office

Hana Abdel — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 01:00:00 +0000

The site is located in a quiet residential area in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. The client wanted a strong framework of concrete as a symbol of space, and at the same time, a house that could accommodate the growth of children and changes in lifestyle. The reinforced concrete wall structure is used for the main walls on the perimeter, while the one-room indoor space is connected by an atrium. The structural walls are reduced as much as possible, and fittings are used as partition walls between the private rooms. The themes of this house are constancy and variability, inconvenience, and freedom.

Building of Music / Kensuke Aisaka

Hana Abdel — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 20:00:00 +0000

This commercial complex for a music company with a long history includes music classrooms, instrument sales, and storage spaces, and the company’s main offices. Located in the Kanda-Ochanomizu area of Tokyo, which is known for its many music stores, the lot is small and irregularly shaped. The client requested a building that efficiently combined a variety of functions, including rooms for lessons in piano, violin, and other instruments; a hall for recitals; a professional recording equipment shop; storage for wholesale instrument sales; and offices to manage these various aspects of the businesses.

Kitano Construction Nagano Head Office / Atsushi Kitagawara Architects

Bianca Valentina Roșescu — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Since its construction in 1959, Kitano Construction's former Nagano headquarters has undergone a series of expansions designed by Junzo Yoshimura to accommodate the expansion of the company's business, but parts of the building had deteriorated significantly and a reconstruction plan was urgently needed.

House in Nagoya / Takashi Okuno & Associates

Hana Abdel — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 01:00:00 +0000

To create a residence with a sense of calm, with its privacy from surroundings maintained, the plan seeks to enclose the garden space. To moreover diversify and enrich the interconnection between inside and out, several dwelling spaces are incorporated into the design, characterized by varying senses of distance from the garden.

House Along Cul de Sac / T2P Architects Office

Andreas Luco — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 06:00:00 +0000

The site is a residential area in Kobe, Japan with a view of Kobe Bay below. The site is on a slope that descends to the south and the north side of the lot faces a circular plaza in a cul-de-sac on a subdivision development road.

Weekend House in Kirishima / EAL

Hana Abdel — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 22:00:00 +0000

This is a weekend house in Kirishima, Japan.The living space is only one-third of the total floor area and the multi-purpose garage and storage account for the rest. So, this house is like a small residence built in a large warehouse. It was intended to turn this unusual areal balance to its advantage and consider new solutions for a sustainable building.

11-1studio / Yosuke SAGOSHI Atelier

Andreas Luco — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 19:00:00 +0000

1. Outline/11-1studio. It is a renovation project of the ground floor (factory, office, garage) of the steel-framed three-story building, which was a factory and residence in a corner of the factory district in Ikebukuro, TOKYO, into a small complex consisting of an architect office, a share-workshop, and a share-cafe. And the architect himself will live in and operate it with the concept of "alternatives to be shown in the future of regional commerce and industry".

Dining Rooms: Their Importance and Possibilities in Plans

Eduardo Souza — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 07:30:00 +0000

The word commensality refers to the act of eating together, sharing a meal. Much more than a mere function of essential human need, sitting at the table is a practice of communion and exchange. An article by Cody C. Delistraty compiles some studies on the importance of eating together: students who don't eat regularly with their parents miss school more; children who do not have daily dinner with their family tend to be more obese and young people in families without this tradition can have more problems with drugs and alcohol, in addition to poorer academic performance. Evidently, all these issues raised are complex and should not be reduced to just one factor. But having a suitable place to have meals, free from distractions, is a good starting point for at least one moment a day that is focused on conversation and food. This is where dinner tables come in. In this article, we review some projects to classify the most common ways to deploy these important pieces of furniture.