IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS
Program
Year
Location
Team
Professor
Honors
Year
Location
Team
Professor
Honors
Apartment Housing / Neighborhhod Center
2020
Senri New Town, Osaka, Japan
BaekGi Min, Anhong Li, Lucas Rigney
Craig Borum, Claudia Wigger
2020 AIA Huron Valley Awards, University of Michigan Student Show, First Place
2020
Senri New Town, Osaka, Japan
BaekGi Min, Anhong Li, Lucas Rigney
Craig Borum, Claudia Wigger
2020 AIA Huron Valley Awards, University of Michigan Student Show, First Place
In Praise of Shadows aims to evoke the traditional intimacy and sensitivity of Japanese culture within a contemporary dwelling concept. The project site, Senri New Town founded on the Neighborhood Theory, is lack of interaction with the nearby community and public facilities and aged into the homogenous and lethargic urban texture.
For the rehabilitation of the community, twelve wells of shadows are generated to play variations of different depth and height of the space (like a figure making game with a string called Cat’s Cradle) under the logic of the structural grid and the scale of the dwelling. The new mixed-use architecture combines a neighborhood center with residences to introduce a new type of urban fabric, horizontally and vertically interweaving different relationships between public and private space.
For the neighborhood center, public spaces such as library, gallery, bathhouse and local shops are framed and connected with different themes of landscape and plazas. Roof gardens on the public program play a role as a buffer zone between residence scale and urban scale.
The privacy of residence is protected by the separation of circulation and the facade system. The facade system, which is inspired by the Japanese screen applying a gradient of the perforated folding panel and curved opening, provides diverse translucency through the overall building.
Section Perspective_Library, Gallery, Public Bath
Plan 1F_Public Program
To increase the interaction and publicity, the building provides multiple access through the site. Plazas and pathways with various length and breadth generate spectrum of grey spaces along the play of light and shadow.
Three types of housing units are designed to embrace different family types. Compact housing units are vertically assembled along with the twelve wells of shadows that establish various scales of intimacy and character within the neighborhood.
Detail Section
© 2020 BaekGi Min