Hasta La Ideas

The angled columns of an earthquake-proof structure frame a series of window slits on the exterior of this Tokyo research laboratory by KINO Architects (+ slideshow).

Located in an industrial area beside Tokyo Bay, the building is used as a chemical research facility for a materials development brand and comprises a U-shaped block with a horizontal slice through its middle.

This slice offers clues about the internal arrangement of the building, which is based on the abstraction of a linear plan. KINO Architects planned a route through a reception, an auditorium, meeting rooms and laboratories, then stretched it through all three floors to create a loop from one ground floor entrance to another.

Offices and meeting rooms required the most privacy, so the architects located them on the middle floor where they can be separated if necessary.

Meanwhile, laboratories can be found on the ground and second floors and feature a modular grid of power inlets, drainage and water points, enabling a variety of different desk layouts.

The architects named the building Spiralab, as a reference to its looping interior layout. “The spiral shape responds to the three requests: research efficiency, high-security and comfort,” they explained. “Also, the spiral form becomes the key to the last request – symbolism. We think that true symbolism of architecture comes from the architecture itself; designed through logical thinking.”

The earthquake-proof structure is described as a cross between a rigid frame and a truss framework, with angled columns that can take both horizontal and vertical stresses. A curtain wall structure is constructed in front and clad with concrete panels to give the building its smooth grey facades.

Japanese studio KINO Architects have offices in both Tokyo and Shiga. Previous projects by the firm include a house with four attics and a concrete residence with views of a nearby castle. See more stories about KINO Architects on Dezeen.

Photography is by Hiroyuki Hirai and Daici Ano.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Spiralab

A “Spiral” fills the needs.

This building is a new chemical research laboratory for a world leading materials development corporation. It is on a large site in an industrial area near Tokyo bay.

We responded to the request for “research efficiency” by using flexible experimental rooms where researchers can adjust their research space according to their needs. To the requests for “high security” and “comfort” we responded with high-security, and high-comfort offices and break areas throughout the entire building. We responded to the request for “symbolism” with symbolic architecture that helps promote the company’s abilities to the world.

First, we horizontally aligned the main rooms: laboratories, an office, meeting rooms, an auditorium and a reception room along a common corridor and put the guest entrance and the researchers entrance at either end. By adopting a plan with a common corridor, the clients can freely select doorways and move partitions in the experimental rooms according to their needs. The security door is easily adjustable due to the linear shape of the plan and the separation of guest and researcher entrances.

Next, we transformed this linear plan in three-dimensions. The office and the meeting rooms need the highest confidentiality, so these were separated from the linear plan. The linear plan spirals around the office and meeting rooms. As a result the office and the meeting rooms are untouched by other rooms on every side, horizontally.

Vertically these rooms are in the centre of the spiral. Therefore the access to the experimental rooms on the upper and lower floors becomes easy. Additionally while these rooms have high-security the walls are transparent, giving a comfortable open-air atmosphere.

The break areas were made by widening the main corridor. As a result, researchers can take a break while changing rooms. In addition, the linear break areas spirals around the court yard. Therefore, this vertical plan allows the researchers to see the court yard from various points of view.

Architect: Masahiro Kinoshita / KINO architects
Location: Chiba, Japan
Principal use: research laboratory
Structure: steel

Scale of building: 3 stories
Site area: 600 ha
Building area: about 1300 sqm
Total floor area: about 3000 sqm

Above: site plan

Above: ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: second floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: cross section one

Above: cross section two

Above: long section

Above: plan concept

Above: earthquake-proof structure

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I’m sick of sawdust. I use a circular saw and a router by Hitachi with hacked-on plastic ports that I can attach to my Ridgid shop vac, and frankly speaking, the dust collection sucks. The problem is either the vac, the port connection or the design of my (admittedly low-cost) power tools themselves, as they’re not designed for the stellar dust collection of the much-pricier Festool offerings.

For starters, let’s say it’s the vac. Cleaning out a shop vac filter is a holy PITA, as just using an air compressor isn’t enough; you really need to blow from inside the filter while scraping between the vanes, which takes freaking forever, to say nothing of the mess created. But if you don’t do it on a regular basis the sawdust trapped in the vanes becomes impacted, and your vacuum’s efficiency drops way down. You also need to do this outdoors (no easy feat in my crowded Manhattan neighborhood), unless you plan on vacuuming up the mess again with the same vac, defeating the entire purpose of your exercise.

If you don’t clean out the filter, you wind up with a weak-ass vacuum, which means the tool it’s hooked up to blows more dust all over the place. This might not be a problem for those of you with dedicated shop areas, but since the only workspace I have is in the photography studio I run, I need to eliminate every mote of dust before the next shooter comes in. So I’ve been searching for an alternative.

All of you that work in small shops that cut wood have heard of cyclones, which drastically reduce the amount of dust that clogs up your shop vac’s filter. The idea is that by attaching your vac to this conical intermediary, then feeding a second hose to the actual tool, most of the dust (and particularly the fine particles) gets sucked away by the vortex and into a bucket for easy disposal. Using physics, or aerodynamics I guess, even a modestly-powered vacuum can create a powerful cyclone. Just ask Dyson.

There are a bunch of cyclones on the market, but which to buy? I was able to find just three options within my modest budget: Oneida’s Dust Deputy, ClearVue’s Mini CV06 and Rockler’s Dust Right Vortex, all for around the same price of 80-90 bucks. Oneida’s of course a prominent manufacturer of vacuums, ClearVue’s larger CVMAX system has an awesome reputation in big shops (though I can’t afford a full $1,845 CVMAX system) and Rockler’s stuff is pretty hit-and-miss; they’re one of those companies that I’ve found has no problem stocking junk alongside some stellar products, which for some reason pisses me off more than if they’d just sold junk.

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Pensato da Jeff Skierka.