Shibata Kako Sekkei Head Office Building

Headquarters building that stands out and coexists in a residential area

The company's head office building has been located in a residential area for 50 years. This was a reconstruction of the head office building of a plant design company. The building was to be robust enough to serve as an evacuation site for nearby residents in the event of a disaster, and to present an image that could be passed on to future generations. A greenbelt set back from the 4-meter wide front road contributes to the neighborhood environment, and at the same time, it is designed to effectively use the volume up to the third floor by avoiding the diagonal line of the road. In consideration of the privacy of both the neighborhood and the building, no windows are provided on the street side, the interior is open to the courtyard that divides the building into three parts, and the vertical lattice on the street side blocks the view to the office from the outside. The panels are made of specially treated aluminum panels of three different widths and varying lengths, with open joints. The result is a modern façade with a stately quality, but one that subtly changes its expression depending on the season, weather, and time of day by reflecting the faintest of light.