BDES1020 <Sonia Cunningham>

Abstract

The Quasine building is designed to be a fine dining landmark within the metropolitan city of Tokyo. The name of the building originates from its plan of four separate restaurants, each with distinct traditional and modern variations on the Japanese cuisine. The complex is placed beside the artificial canal created by the Continuous City, which creates opportunity for diners to eat both inside and outside. The facade is brightly coloured and the roof structure almost tent-like, creating a sense of attraction and wonder towards the building and encouraging visitors to venture inside. The geometric structure of the building is outlined highlighted strongly by the black paint on its surface. The building also is taller at the front to take advantage of the view of the river, and then gradually gets shorter towards the rear. Intimate dining spaces are created within its irregular shape. The original block was ‘cut’ into to create more room and a more dynamic shape. The four separate restaurants are defined also by this shape and also by the use of four colours on the exterior. Each restaurant is assigned a different colour, either red, orange, yellow or blue and on each restaurant’s facade this colour is used. On the roof the colours gradually become more random towards the back of the building and lose all sense of order on the back facade. More functional spaces such as bathrooms and kitchens are placed towards the rear and are of a more rigid and structured shape. The two contrasting areas are divided strongly, yet simultaneously connected by a hallway down the center axis of the building.