Photographer: Takumi Ota Photography | ArchDaily

Shin Nakano Residence / Ryuichi Sasaki + Sasaki Architecture

Pratik Mour — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Built as Grantage Shin Nakano in the Chuo district of Nakano, Tokyo, the reinforced concrete residential building rises five storeys above a basement level and holds eleven units within a total floor area of 416.68 square meters. It was designed to give an architectural form to the geography that has shaped life in western Tokyo for millennia.

Escenario Hanabusayama / Ryuichi Sasaki + Sasaki Architecture

Pilar Caballero — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 03:00:00 +0000

Carving architecture from the earth – Surrounded by undulating terrain and historic residential zones dating back to the Edo period, Escenario Hanabusayama reflects the strata and slopes of its environment in both form and materiality. The façade—accented with elongated, slanted ridges—evokes layers of rock, while the approach and boundary walls incorporate slender stone patterns and gentle inclines reminiscent of natural formations. The exposed concrete exterior, as if cut directly from the cliff, anchors the building into the landscape, blurring the boundary between structure and terrain.

Environments of Curiosity: Translating Pedagogy into Architectural Form in Montessori, Waldorf, and Beyond

Olivia Poston — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Children encounter space differently from adults. For them, the world is not yet rationalized into function and circulation but is experienced through emotion and curiosity. Where adults may navigate rooms through habit, children inhabit them through immediacy. A patch of sunlight becomes an event. The curve of a hallway invites wandering. The sound of footsteps on wood or the softness of fabric beneath fingertips is not background but information. What adults may dismiss as peripheral moments quietly mediates their sense of safety, autonomy, belonging, and possibility. Architecture is an opportunity for pedagogy to become physical.

Komaoka Genkids Nursery School / Tomoyuki Kurokawa Architects

Pilar Caballero — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000

A nursery school with a capacity of 60 children is located in a suburban residential area in Tsurumi Ward, Yokohama City. The planned site area is located in a region designated by Yokohama City as a “priority development area” due to the high demand for nursery schools. However, in densely populated residential areas, there are few opportunities to have a site large enough for a nursery school. For this site as well, the area designated for the playground was kept to a minimum by satisfying the relaxation requirements. Thus, the plan was approved.

21 Projects Where Kengo Kuma (Re)Uses Materials in Unusual Ways

José Tomás Franco — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Kengo Kuma uses materials to connect with the local context and the users of his projects. The textures and elementary forms of constructive systems, materials, and products, are exhibited and used in favor of the architectural concept, giving value to the functions that will be carried out in each building.

From showcases made with ceramic tiles to the sifted light created by expanded metal panels, passing through an ethereal polyester coating, Kuma understands the material as an essential component that can make a difference in architecture from the design stages. Next, we present 21 projects where Kengo Kuma masterfully uses construction materials.

Dentistry in the Forest / YYA / Yusuke Yoshino Architects

Hana Abdel — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 02:00:00 +0000

This is a plan for a house with an attached dental clinic. The dentist, who has worked as a director in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, intends to lead a second life in the city of Tanabe, not far from Shirahama, in the Wakayama Prefecture. The site has the Minami Wakayama Medical Centre on the west side, and the area along the street is home to medical institutions, while a little further south a nature‐rich area with the Tanabe City Museum of Art and Shinjo General Park can be found. The first thing we thought was how the dental clinic patients would feel when on their first visit. We thought it would be best to create a simple and relaxing environment stripped of stress and fear, an easy place for patients to visit.

Escenario Todoroki Building / Sasaki Architecture

Hana Abdel — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 20:00:00 +0000

This is a residential housing complex consisting of 16 units near the Todoroki ravine, the only ravine in central Tokyo. We wanted the façade to have some kind of correspondence with the Todoroki ravine as the surrounding environment. The building faces the main road, and the approach to the entrance, which is set back from the road, is a space that draws the visitor into a world reminiscent of the valley.

How to Structure Buildings as Bridges

Eduardo Souza — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 05:00:00 +0000

Metaphorically, building bridges equates to creating new opportunities, connections, and paths. The first bridges likely formed naturally with logs falling across rivers and natural depressions, though humans have also been building rudimentary structures to overcome obstacles since prehistory. Today, technological advances have made it possible to erect bridges that are both impressive and sculptural, playing a key role in transportation and connectivity. Usually needing to overcome large spans, with few points of support, bridges can be quite difficult to structure. But when is the bridge more than a connection between two points, instead resembling a building with a complex program? How can these 'bridge houses' be structured?

Spotlight: Kengo Kuma

Dario Goodwin — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 04:30:00 +0000

Kengo Kuma (born 8th August, 1956) is one of the most significant Japanese figures in contemporary architecture. His reinterpretation of traditional Japanese architectural elements for the 21st century has involved serious innovation in uses of natural materials, new ways of thinking about light and lightness and architecture that enhances rather than dominates. His buildings don't attempt to fade into the surroundings through simple gestures, as some current Japanese work does, but instead his architecture attempts to manipulate traditional elements into statement-making architecture that still draws links with the area its built in. These high-tech remixes of traditional elements and influences have proved popular across Japan and beyond, and his recent works have begun expanding out of Japan to China and the West.

ArchDaily Editors Select 20 Amazing 21st Century Museums

Connor Walker — Sun, 18 May 2014 01:00:00 +0000

In honor of International Museum Day we’ve collected twenty fascinating museums well worth visiting again. In this round up you’ll find classics - such as Bernard Tschumi Architects' New Acropolis Museum and Zaha Hadid Architects' MAXXI Museum - as well as lesser-known gems - such as Waterford City Council Architects’ Medieval Museum, the Natural History Museum of Utah by Ennead, and the Muritzeum by Wingårdhs. See all of our editors' favorites after the break!

Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum / Kengo Kuma & Associates

Victoria King — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:00:00 +0000

This is a plan to link two public buildings with a bridge-typed facility, which had been long separated by the road in between. The museum technically bridges communications in this area. It functions not only as a passage between the two facilities but also as an accommodation and workshop, ideal location for artist-in-residence programs. In this project, we challenged a structural system which composes of small parts, referring to cantilever structure often employed in traditional architecture in Japan and China. It is a great example of sustainable design, as you can achieve a big cantilever even without large-sized materials.

Yusuhara Marche / Kengo Kuma & Associates

Kritiana Ross — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Yusuhara Machino-eki is a complex of a market selling local products and a small hotel with 15 rooms. Combining the two different functions via atrium, a new core facility was born for the town of 3,900 in the mountains.

Urban Hut / Takehiko Nez Architects

Victoria King — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The young clients, sister and brother, lost parents at their teens, lived in the downtown Tokyo. Modest, rough and tough house to have a strong hold on the changes of the times like weeds is suitable for them.

Gable House / FORM | Kouichi Kimura

Andrew Rosenberg — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The site is faced with the heavily traveled arterial road. Living in such an environment, the client would like to have an open and tranquil space where you would not be conscious about surrounding lines of sight.