Designer Insights: The Future of Offices
Vol.11 Transforming Nature into Offices: Norihisa Kawashima’s Design Philosophy
Buildings as “material banks” that can be reused for other purposes
“We viewed the building as one point within a material flow, as a material bank. Natural and artificial materials are designed so that they can be separated, and once each has reached the end of its life they can be recovered as mono-materials.”
The idea that a building becomes a “material bank” may not immediately resonate. Kawashima points to the cedar logs on the façade as an example.
“These cedars were obtained from forests in Yoshino, an area Asanuma Corporation has connections to. The timber comes from sustainably managed forests. You may notice that the logs become thinner as they rise to the upper floors. This is to minimise waste from each trunk. They are used as the façade and allowed to dry naturally, and we envision that in the future they could be repurposed for interior finishes or furniture.”
The earth used for finishing the building’s surface was also sourced from soil left over at Asanuma Corporation construction sites.
“It contains impurities from the building sites, and effort is required to remove them, but by sieving it we turned it into a usable resource. Employees also took part in the process of applying the earth. Our aim was to build a system in which people understand the process, develop an attachment to it, and can carry out maintenance independently.”
“By repositioning architecture as a key point in new urban material flows, and by creating an environment connected with changing elements of nature – light, wind, earth, wood and plants – I believe we were able to show what architecture that is good for people and planet alike might look like.”
“Every material you see and touch has a background and ties back to sustainability. Architecture becomes a gateway through which you can start thinking about this. Realising how you are connected is also humbling. No matter how functionally advanced something is, if people’s values and behaviour do not change, you can end up with the attitude that ‘because performance is high and it uses less energy, it’s fine to use it plenty.’”
The Asanuma Corporation Nagoya branch office obtained WELL certification in 2022, the first in Japan for comprehensive renovation of an office building more than 30 years old. It stands as objective evidence of the high regard for the efforts of Kawashima and Asanuma Corporation.