This project is for an apparel retail building in Matsumoto, Nagano. The site is located midway between Matsumoto Station and Matsumoto Castle, looking over the Metoba River towards the south.

This is a two-storey steel building in a simple box shape with triangular pyramid cut-outs. This is planned based on the construction method of “steel frame structure in triangular pyramid shapes joined at their vertices to withstand earthquakes'', which we proposed in the competition for the Kashiwazaki City Hall (finalist).

An extremely important design factor for any apparel retail buildings is to protect the merchandise from direct sunlight. While retailers wish to open themselves up to the street using glass openings, there are not many ways to effectively solve the fading problem. In the design, glass openings are only placed on the appropriate faces of the triangular pyramid to control the amount of light entering in whilst welcoming passers-by.

Location: Matsumoto, Nagano
Category: Retail