Distance and Dimensions | GRAY-ZONE Design Office

Distance and Dimensions, “Would people be happy if a design office opened nearby?” This is a renovation plan (for a mixed-use residence) for our architectural design office in an urbanization control area. The underlying idea of the project was to consider the appropriate “sense of distance” before considering the appropriate dimensions.

Specific examples of sense of distance include the sense of distance between “designer and visitors (client, local residents, friends, acquaintances, future client)” in our daily lives, and the broader perspective of the architectural design industry, “design office and society (contractors, meetings with manufacturer sales, people from other industries, people with no work-related ties).” Since the location would likely be appreciated by a convenience store, this project began with thinking about creating a place that would not only provide a rational office space but also benefit people who are not familiar with design offices or who do not request work from the office.

Site – The planned site is in Hadano City, the only basin in Kanagawa Prefecture. The main house of this project and the three houses on either side are related to each other. The road in front is the main route used by farmers’ cars going in and out of the fields on the south side, so there is a lot of traffic with neighbors at certain times. The challenge was how to design it to be a familiar hub of communication. A large-scale manufacturing plant used to be run on this site, and at that time, it was expanded as a single-story wood processing plant, and a second floor was added later. It was necessary to refine the “architectural lines” that had been added impromptu while respecting the history of the site.

Plan – In order to create a continuous relationship between the geographical characteristics of the area and the spatial experience inside, a three-dimensional earthen floor space called “agari-doma” was created at about GL (from ground level) + 500mm in the part facing the road boundary. ※Old Japanese houses had a “doma” (a space with a dirt floor) that was used for storage, work, and play. This project expresses the doma in three dimensions.”Agari” means rise. The agari-doma was planned to be used as an impressive approach to the extraordinary place that is the design office, as a veranda where people can sit from inside and outside, and as a seasonal event space so that the people’s activities themselves would become the face of the building, and the facade would change every time they pass by the office.

Prospects – Although this is a small-scale office project, by inviting people like a house and opening up like a store, we hope to create an opportunity to change the “sense of distance between the design office and the building” that each visitor has.

Project Info
Architects: GRAY-ZONE Design Office
Country: Japan
Area: 37 m²
Year: 2024
Photographs: Nao Takahashi
General Constructing: Tonkachi Drills Co., Ltd.