Yuko Nagayama & Associates

“Windows” are one of the important elements upon relationships between architecture and the city.

However, many of the windows seen from the street actually look dark with an enclosed impression, partly because of the intense light reflections. Could there not be other ways of creating windows that have more intimacy?

I once had a strange experience in London when I visited there while I was a student. When walking down the street, I saw a strange bright window which had light coming down from it to the street. I found out the property was actually a vacant land as I looked through the window. Only the exterior facing the street was kept, and the building itself had been demolished. The wall had a steel frame to maintain it to stand still. What an effort to maintain the street’ s scenery. I felt it represented how much the city values its sceneries. In other words, exteriors are actually the interior of the street.

Based on this experience, we came with the idea of examining how a “bright window” facing a street could be. This building is located right between the shopping area of Daikanyama and its residential area. This building’ s facade has “bright windows” lining up at even intervals, making the architecture appear as though it could be a residential house fitting in the quiet street. Since the building had limited depth due to the size of the property, we placed a glass wall to the back side in order to enable a view of buildings and the sky behind to be seen from the street through the windows, allowing a shower of light to fall on the street. The steel construction of this building has a different structure on its street side and the back side. Most of the weight is supported by the street side which has more walls, while the back side only has thin pillars that support the vertical load to enable an open feeling.

We reconsidered ways of how a window could change the cityscape little by little through the concept of a “Bright Window.”