DESA1002 'Nine Quarter City' - Thomas Drozdzewski

Abstract

The design of this building, situated within the ‘Asakusa District’, Tokyo, Japan, was foremost inspired by a number of works in the minimalist art style, strongly focusing on the geometric forms of the square and cube. Its primary function is as an office block, featuring a split-level that holds a number of partitioned conferences and meeting rooms. The lower level is dedicated to the need for greater public space in this region of Tokyo, where there is a large public sculpture garden that opens outwards from the street side. This area is skirted by a number of retail outlets that service the area. Within the enclosed space at the end of this public domain is an exhibition space, which could be used by the public for art displays, functions, etc. The concept that I formulated for this project was three-fold, which incorporated a number of influences that I used during the design process. The first was a reflection of the cities angular geometry as a whole, into a single structure. The second being the incorporation of the cube into the building as a whole, separating each individual space into a cube, joined by a recessed link. Thirdly, within Tokyo there are little or no buildings that join directly to adjacent buildings, always separated by a alley or street. Therefore I used the cubic geometry to separate each individual section of the building into a seemingly individual unit. I believe that overall the project has taught me a number of things about the design process as a whole, specifically about the importance of the incorporation of influences into a concept, as well as the importance of refining ideas into a more successful final product.