elastico

Here, I reconsidered the idea of ‘finish’. Architecture is generally composed of building frame and finishes. On the other hand, it is possible to say that civil engineering is the building frame itself, and the interior is very much the finish. However, once I focused on a part in between them, the partitioning wall left something unexplored despite being very familiar to us. Then I took the interior to be as architecture without a building frame. From this point of view, partitioning wall could be seen as skin without skeleton, or in other words, “boneless”.
We made the partitioning wall of this hair salon in very thin black steel sheet, with a thickness of only 2.3mm so that it swings softly if you push it. I would like to view the idea as an aesthetic interior. That is, if aesthetic concrete appears as a consequence of removing finish from a concrete frame, then finish without a frame could be an aesthetic interior. Equally, it might be described as a genuine interior.
Also, to invite the customers comfortably into the interior, the design was required to involve grace and elasticity reminiscent of the Baroque. The interior is a part of the facade as well as the townscape. So the black steel has a scratched pattern like brick tiles as if the brick exterior wall is extended inward. Actually this kitsch surface has emphasized the peculiar fishy/dull glitter of black steel, while the light 2.3mm thickness has softened the steel’s hard image. Additionally resilience, like a bulldog clip, has been evoked by alternating folded squared edges and elastic curved surfaces on a 36m steel sheet.

photos by Takumi Ota