Squaring the circle

Architectural Review, The, Dec, 1994 by Catherine Slessor

The YKK Group is a mighty and in some respects prototypical Japanese corporation. One aspect of its operations is the development and distribution of products for the building industry -- the innovative curtain wall glazing at Kansai International Airport (AR November 1994), for example, was developed by YKK's building products division. As part of a process of rationalisation, the firm decided to yoke together a group of hitherto dispersed product development activities in one location. The outcome is an integrated research and development centre in Tokyo, designed by Fumihiko Maki.

Rather than an impenetrable research facility, the new building was conceived as an interactive forum where direct communication between the company and its customers can take place. The physical framework must therefore be capable of nurturing and encouraging such interaction.

The new R&D Centre is located in Tokyo's southern Ryoguku district, historically a light industrial sector crammed with small printing works, machine plants and textile factories.

Amid this chaotic urban jumble, Maki's new building appears undeniably monumental, yet exudes an aura of calm refinement. Simple geometric forms, clad in a shimmeringa aluminium skin (abstracted from the industrial surroundings), gently swoop and collide to create a dynamic, unified whole. At the heart of the new building is an elevated, open courtyard, meticulously landscaped to respond to the changing light and seasons.

Skeletal bamboo trees are arranged around the circumference of a black granite circle, generating hypnotic patterns of light and colour, while jets of mist spray the surface of the granite to creating the illusion of a water-filled pond when viewed from above.

Maki's sculptural fusion of volumes articulates the building's various functions, which extend beyond simply providing tracts of office space. Public facilities include an exhibition hall, library, presentation suite, cafe, restaurant and even a small residential hotel for the use of both visitors and employees on the upper storeys.

On the west side of the building is a towering five-storey atrium, drenched with natural light through a delicate lattice of planar glazing. The contemplative calm of this cathedral-like space is shattered by a series of vivid green pillars framing the main staircase, and a vertiginous red walkway suspended at high level. On the south-east side, the angular, orthogonal geometry dissolves into a streamlined curve, in response to the configuration of the corner site.

Despite fluctuating economic circumstances and changing work patterns, the concept of company loyalty still prevails strongly in Japan. Employees are expected to devote long hours to the corporate cause, but in this case there is a n evident attempt to reward this devotion by improving the quality of working conditions. A staff cafeteria, gym and employees' club occupy the top floor, to which salarymen can retreat when not toiling loyally in their regimented open-plan offices below.

There is virtually no need to ever leave the building -- a slightly chilling subtext and perhaps the company's subconscious aim. Yet by actively encouraging the intrusion of the public, the notion that this office is simply another inscrutable and anonymous corporate fortress is subtly subverted. C.S.