BDES1020 Continuous City <Savini,Abeysinghe>

Abstract

KOSHIKAKERU Sushi Bar and Restaurant Koshikakeru, is a Sushi bar and restaurant which sits on the waters of the Asakusa canal in Tokyo, Japan. The structure incorporates aspects from the traditional Japanese culture such as the stilts on which it rests on, which originated from the early Shinto Shrine styles- namely the Taisha Zukuri. The basic form and exterior style incorporates aspects from the earliest form of Japanese paper art- Origami. The black and white exterior combined with the glass sliding panels that surround the building, is strongly influenced by Zen Architecture which combines traditional Japanese architecture, Zen Buddhism and contemporary life. The black and white symbolizes the ‘balance’ or the ‘balance of opposites’. In this case it represents the relationship or the balance between water and land. Its black and white exterior makes it an iconic figure on the canal visible to both Tokyo’s city slickers and countless tourists. The restaurant, accessible by both land and water, provides guests with a new and refreshing experience. The underlying vision for this project was to not only give guests an experience of one of the best cuisines in the world, but to also let them experience the city itself. The glass exterior achieves this by creating a space that stretches far beyond the buildings ‘four walls’ and therefore blurs the line between the exterior and the interior, where it then achieves Zen’s ultimate goal where one’s self and surroundings merge together as one.