Description

The research and production building for medical and dental instruments of Osada Electric Co. Ltd. in Nagoya, Japan, provides a net floor area of 4,200 m² accommodating research laboratories, offices, administration, and production.

The project’s particular quality is generated through the merging of Hoigaku (the Japanese version of Chinese Feng Shui) with high-tech architecture. The traditional rules of Hoigaku, which is used to ensure the safety and durability of structures, fell into oblivion more and more, especially in the field of modern town planning. Lately Hoigaku has been rediscovered and is assigned certain significance, last not least as it suits Japan’s cultural heritage. The big challenge according to Hoigaku is to ”read” the genius loci of a place to retain harmony with nature. This way, the architecture will ”breathe” and create an inspiring and human environment.

In keeping with Hoigaku, the architects tried to integrate into their concept the landscape, the existing building fabric, local characteristics, and the people that will work in the factory. The resulting scheme is in balance with the surrounding landscape and draws its inspiration from this fact. All facilities are arranged around a central courtyard, which links the two buildings and determines the premises.

The curved complex with an aluminium curtain wall façade shields noise and heat. Work and production areas are located on the south side. The quiet north side is flanked by rows of representative cherry trees and a pond. On this side, the key areas of the complex including offices as well as meeting and conference rooms are concentrated, but also plant rooms, lifts, and sanitary areas. Lounge zones are allocated in between. The two different functional areas of the complex represent the opposite poles of yin and yang: movement and calm, introverted and extroverted.

The large light-flooded production hall supports inspiration; the roof span of 25 m creates a column-free space allowing all kinds of furnishings and a highly flexible use of the hall. Both the central laboratories and the observatory have lentil-shaped roofs that seem to be suspended in mid-air and which create a special sense of place and identity of the factory. The architects have called their project BASE, hoping the architecture is deeply rooted in the soil it is built on and is enhanced and supported by the positive energy that the site radiates.

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Originally published in: Hardo Braun, Dieter Grömling, Research and Technology Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2005.