Excerpt: DA OSAKA Branch Office in Tokyo by Reiichi Ikeda Design reinterprets a historic building in Jinbou-cho, the “Town of Books,” as the heart of future human flow. By shifting the entry point from the second floor to the first and drawing the external staircase into the interior, the office design gently connects interior and exterior, past and present, while cultivating a deep relationship between people, time, and energy.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] DA-OSAKA, headquartered in Osaka, is a company specializing in interior construction for commercial premises. This project is for their Tokyo branch office. Located in Jinbou-cho Chiyoda, Tokyo where it is well known as “Town of Books” because of densely packed bookstores and vintage bookshops. DA-OSAKA, headquartered in Osaka, is a company specializing in interior construction for commercial premises. This project is for their Tokyo branch office.
People say that newspaper printing used to take place here, under the name of “Shinbun-no-Shinbun Building”.—in English, “the Newspaper building of newspaper”. It is along the Nihon-bashi River, unchanged facade covered with clove-dyed brown tiles since its completion, which feels like it melts into this historical urban fabric.
A noteworthy point is that there are two routes to the second floor: a straight central staircase providing direct access from outside, in addition to the usual elevator. We aim to make this place the heart of future human flow and the origin of the entire space by enhancing the project to. Enhance the space as a main entrance by shifting the entry point from the second floor to the first, extending the inner approach to draw the formerly external staircase into the internal realm of the office.
For the first step, express a smooth transition between connected realms by forming a semicircular end profile on the wall surrounding the staircase, and by extending clove-dyed brown tiles into the interior of the second floor. A deliberately left rectangular opening in part of the wall seems to have been used as a mail slot.
Furthermore, tile elements infuse not only the entrance area but also the pillars in the workspace and parts of the furniture, leading to a carefully tailored interior and exterior to cultivate a deep relationship throughout the entire space.
Also, devised custom-made lighting fixtures imbued with the elegant movement of turning vintage books, including a bracket light and a stainless steel pendant laden with arc-shaped details.
We wish for a new history to unfold here, one that interweaves people, time, and energy.
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