Class Category: 2023_Sing a Song

In attempt to reintegrate the water in the city again, and to restore its relationship with the people that occupy it, we want to unlock people behaviors, that was restricted with many barriers, to bring them to the abaondonned areas closer to the bay and immerse them into an experience with their environments and surroundings, taking into consideration all the existing and wasted potentials.

PAGODA SAUNA

As a visitor, your journey to the sauna begins from the western road. Upon arrival, you’ll encounter a ticket counter. Proceed to the changing room, exit to the garden, and collect the logs required for the sauna.
Descend the stone wall staircase to reach the bridge.

Below the bridge, you’ll find a kayak, which you’ll use to cross the river to access the other side for your
sauna experience.
Following your return from swimming, ascend the spiral staircase leading to a tea room.
This space can also host events, and you can purchase eelgrass to take home as a memento of your experience.

It is a place located in the center of Shibaura. It is a location where railways, bridges,
a pier, and a running path intersect. First, there was the railway. Pillars stood in the
middle of the river.Then, a bridge was built to connect the island and the land, but
due to the railway pillars being right in the middle of the pathway, the bridge took the
form of two separate sections. The approach to the pier is located on the outside of
the railway pillars, and there is a running path that exists parallel to it.
Everything is structured ingeniously, without any waste from an engineering stand
point, making it very beautiful. However, at the same time, the coexistence of water,
earth, air, and sound is also beautiful, creating a fine contrast with the artificial struc
tures. To fully appreciate this, We propose enhancing the enjoyment of this place by
adding minimal design elements, enriching the experience further.
A lightweight, elegant staircase connecting the promenade and the pillars. Extend
ing the pier to connect with the promenade. It’s designed to accommodate water,
enabling activities like boating, fishing, and perhaps even allowing people to swim
freely, akin to how people do in Nordic countries in the future.

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BOAT-ISLAND

Create a connecting space between humans and the environment we seek to conected our target
population of families with children and residents of the surrounding area through contact with water, sky and wind and feeling gravity with the movement produced by the water. Our proposal is an island placed in the center of the river, with easy access to the surrounding residents, in order to create an ephemeral space in the middle of the river that allows people relaxation time in the center of a busy city.

We considered expanding the children’s play area at the Shibaura Island Community Plaza for the Elderly and Kids. Our goal is to provide a more diverse walking and playing experience that approaches the surface of the ocean, blurring the boundary between land and water. The main focus of our design is the children, as their smiles and laughter bring much-needed joy to the busy city.

In this context, we began to question whether designing perpendicular to the current linear geometry could help soften the existing waterfront lines, forms, and circulation. Introducing a playful twist to the geometry to bring variation to the existing design emerged as one of our possible alternatives.

More specifically, rather than sharply cutting the rectangular slope and leaving behind an abrupt form, we believe we should explore what can be done with the awkward corners where the structure meets the ground and water.

Tamachi Dive

During our walks in the Tamachi area we saw everything rising up from the ground.
Concrete is being brought in by a constant stream of mixing trucks, cranes are lifting prefabricated building parts high up in the air, workers are taking the elevator to go to their highrise office floors.
As a reaction to this movement, we imagined a way to allow people to go down into the soil of Tamachi, which has an interesting past since its reclaimed land.

After this midterm presentation we decided to further develop this idea, research the composition of the Tamachi soil and find ways of digging the hole and inviting people down.