Chofu campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music

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1 Architectural Institute of Japan Design Review Chofu campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music Tomohiko Yamanashi, Tatsuya Hatori, Yasuyo Sasayama and Yoshito Ishihara NIKKEN SEKKEI, Tokyo, Japan Correspondence Yasuyo Sasayama, NIKKEN SEKKEI, Tokyo, Japan. Funding information No funding information is provided. Received July 3, 2017; Accepted November 27, 2017 doi: / Abstract Project for a music school. Due to the superfluous consciousness of ambient noise and sound insulation, many music college facilities employ a style in which the exterior appears as a closed box and the lesson rooms are lined up along corridors in a jail-cell-like manner in the interior. In this project, we tried to break down such an image. By exposing the volume of the lesson rooms to the exterior, small, uneven, courtyard-like spaces between neighboring rooms were created, and the volume of the building was broken down. As a result, the characteristic porous volume arrangement was born. For such adjustments, it was more appropriate to use a new computer-based method of design that incorporates three-dimensional feedback loops. The porous figures embed a sense of continuity and surprise, as if one were wandering around a village. This resulted in the creation of rich spaces and enhanced presence as a whole. Keywords BIM, computational design, music college, porous, three-dimension Figure 1. The composition of the elevated lesson rooms and the piloti space beneath form the peculiar exterior. Chofu Campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music 2014 Harunori Noda This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made The Authors. Japan Architectural Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Architectural Institute of Japan. Jpn Archit Rev January 2018 vol. 1 no

2 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar3 1. Porous arrangements of a large volume space This is a plan for a music college in a typical low-rise suburban city (Figures 1 and 2). Previously, the volume arrangements of large-scale buildings were often discussed from the perspective of limited methodologies, such as creating a city in a park by surrounding the spaces with a buffer zone, forming a group by considering the buildings as a colony, or the Nolli Map method, Figure 2. The division of classroom volumes attenuates the impact on the surrounding areas. Chofu Campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music 2014 Harunori Noda YAMANASHI et al. which involves inverting negative voids and positive volumes. 1 Here, however, we pursued a system of porous arrangement, which creates a sense of continuity from inside to outside and delicately picks up contexts without spoiling the sense of unity that can only be provided by large-scale plans. Due to the superfluous consciousness of ambient noise and sound insulation, many music college facilities employ a style in which the exterior appears as a closed box, and the lesson rooms are lined up along central corridors in a jail-cell-like manner. It is ironic that the learning spaces for a creative activity resemble what we can see in solitary confinement. We needed to overcome this style and to establish the presence as a music college while maintaining flexibility in arranging the lesson rooms (Figure 3 and 4). The building was planned to have three levels: two levels above ground and one underground level. On the second floor, lesson rooms were freely placed according to the program and without any restrictions, such as standardized span dimensions and grid lines. By exposing the volume of the lesson rooms to the exterior, small, uneven, courtyard-like spaces between neighboring rooms were created, and the volume of the building was broken down (Figure 5). Corridors were placed between the lesson rooms for better sound insulation. This resulted in inserting the exterior into the interior, which lure wind and natural light. The louder ensemble room was placed on the underground floor, as this area has better sound insulation. Corridors and a sunken garden were created, with the same structure as the second floor. As a result, the characteristic porous volume arrangement was Figure 3. Due to the superfluous consciousness of ambient noise and sound insulation, many music collage facilities employ a style in which the exterior appears as closed box, which results in the rooms being aligned along the central corridor in a jail-cell-like manner. By separating and spreading out the lesson rooms throughout the site, this site, this plan, breaks down the volume impact to the neighborhood while improving the sound insulation between the rooms. Simultaneously, the lesson rooms are separated vertically leaving an open public space in the first floor of the campus. As a result, both sufficient noise isolation and continuity between the inside and the ambience can be accomplished Figure 4. Each corner of the rooms has openings to create visual continuity throughout the floor. This anticipates the effect of friendly competition between students Jpn Archit Rev January 2018 vol. 1 no. 1 25

3 YAMANASHI et al. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar3 Figure 8. North-south section. 01 Lesson Room 02 Light Court 03 Figure 5. The light from the courtyard penetrating the first and second floors. Contrast can be seen between the extroversive ground floor and massive introversive lesson rooms. Chofu Campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music 2014 Harunori Noda [Gankosha]. Reprinted by permission* Figure 9. Plans for B1. 01 Lesson Room 02 Light Court 03 Foyer 04 Machine Room 05 Control Room 06 Staff Room 07 Information 08 Office 09 Dispensary 10 Meeting Room 11 PC room 12 Bicycle Figure 6. Second floor. The lesson rooms with large windows. Chofu Figure 7. The corridor in the second floor. The corner of each room is open to the common area, which maintains visual continuity. Chofu Figure 10. Plans for first floor. 01 Lesson Room 02 Light Court 03 Jpn Archit Rev January 2018 vol. 1 no. 1 26

4 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar3 YAMANASHI et al. Figure 11. Plans for second floor. 01 Lesson Room 02 Light Court 03 Figure 13. Second floor. The visual continuity of the common space and lesson rooms provides stimuli for the students. Chofu Campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music 2014 Harunori Noda [Gankosha]. Reprinted by permission* Figure 12. View of the lesson room from the courtyard. Different classrooms are visible through the corner, across the corridor. Chofu born, which is large scale but also possesses a sense of unity while maintaining the continuity of the interior and exterior spaces (Figures 6 and 7). In this design, a group of porous walls on uneven grids exist on the underground floor and the second floor. On the first floor, the campus is a completely different space, having pillars at the intersections of the above and below floors. The campus unfolds under the porous second floor. It allows the college to be an open space rather than a closed space detached from its surroundings and provides a sense of continuity with the neighborhoods (Figure 8). The porous volume arrangement, which is created by the triple-layered uneven grids, in fact works as a system that flexibly adjusts various issues that are inevitable in a large-scale project and results in a variety of individual spaces. To make the adjustments for this design, it is more appropriate to use a new computer-based design method that incorporates three-dimensional feedback loops rather than using a predetermined harmonic additional line, such as the conventional grid Figure 14. First floor. Ground-level semi-indoor open piloti for students to gather. Chofu Campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music 2014 Harunori Noda line. The subtle changes and misalignments are created by persistent adjustments using computer. The porous figure designed to positively place the large-scale building in the random context invokes a sense of continuity and surprise as if wandering around a village. This resulted in the creation of rich spaces and enhanced the presence as a whole (Figure 9-11). 2. Findings from research Before planning, we conducted research on the use of the existing facilities and other music colleges, which provided some useful findings. For example, the size of each lesson room in the existing buildings was a part of the valuable education system that had been engendered throughout the history of Toho Gakuen as a result of intermittent renovation of the school buildings. 2 By simply mentioning the room number, all school officials immediately knew the role of the room and the type of space it provided. In addition, it seemed necessary to have a comfortable space for the students, especially those who stay at the school for long periods of time due to lessons. Jpn Archit Rev January 2018 vol. 1 no. 1 27

5 YAMANASHI et al. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar3 Figure 15. BIM model. The heterogeneous grid was derived by three-dimensional feedback using BIM. This process raises an alternative to the traditional design method using grid lines which in some cases leads to mediocre spatial experiences. This method is a system to generate rich spaces satisfying both needs of continuity and unexpectancy Surprisingly, the students were more conscious than expected about making eye-contact with other players, seeing others, and being seen. They wanted to practice in relatively open spaces rather than in enclosed lesson rooms. Furthermore, despite the prohibition of playing is spaces other than the lesson rooms, the students sometimes played in a stairway hall or looked for a favorite lesson room. We found that the students looked for their favorite sound in the school, and such findings provided details for the design (Figures 12 and 13). 3. Layering and adjusting the different uneven grids On the second floor and the underground floor, the mm reinforced concrete walls constitute the uneven grids; 250 mm square reinforced concrete pillars that use 9-mm-thick square steel tubes for permanent formwork and protection are employed on the first floor. This not only retains the continuity of structure but also creates a piloti-style space in the campus for students to gather (Figure 14). As for the design, the different uneven grids on the second and underground floors were layered on BIM, and the pillars were placed at the intersections while using the corridor width as an adjustment allowance. Constant examination from eyelevel was performed to maximize the views from corridors and windows. As a result, the lesson rooms are ideally arranged on both the second floor and the underground floor, while an open, piloti-like space is created on the first floor. At the same time, the corridor width in each part is slightly different, which creates unique scenery in the interior space (Figure 15) Project data Main structure: Reinforced concreate (RC) structure Site area: m 2 Building area: m 2 Gross floor area: m 2 Completion: March 2014 Location: Chohu-shi, Tokyo Construction company: SHIMIZU CORPORATION Disclosure The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. References 1 Yamanashi T, Hatori T, Sasayama Y, Ishihara Y, SHIN-KENCHIKU. 2014, vol. 89, no. 9, pp. 96,101 (in Japanese). 2 Yamanashi T, Hatori T, Sasayama Y, Ishihara Y, GA JAPAN no. 127, pp. 118 (in Japanese). How to cite this article: Yamanashi T, Hatori T, Sasayama Y, Ishihara Y. Chofu campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. Jpn Archit Rev. 2018;1: *Figures 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14 are not covered by the terms of the Creative Commons license of this publication. For permission to reuse, please contact the rights holder. Jpn Archit Rev January 2018 vol. 1 no. 1 28