Dezeen Magazine

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun Design

A curving chasm slices off the corner of this showroom building in western Tokyo to create a passageway to its entrance.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Completed by Japanese architects Tsutomu Hasegawa of Be-Fun Design and Takato Tamagami in 2008, the five-storey-high concrete block contains galleries and a workplace for textile company Sunwell.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Glass bridges cross the narrow, timber-lined alleyway on the three upper levels, leading to small triangular meeting rooms.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

On the ground floor, a staircase leads down to a basement with high ceilings, where the company host events.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

This is the second product showroom we've featured on Dezeen this month - see our recent story about a timber showroom concealed behind gauzy black curtains.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Photography is by Masaya Yoshimura.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Here's some more text from Takato Tamagami:


Sunwell Muse Kita-sando

This is a building of a textile planning and trading company which handles the entire process from the production to retail.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

The site is well located on the corner plot near the fashionable city "Harajuku".

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

The client had been focusing on female apparel business, so the concept of our building design which is a metaphor of female beauty was suitable for them to put across their corporate identity.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

The components that characterises this architecture are the two curved surface walls which dominate the entire space.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

These two walls form a shortcut path which connects the roads in front of each side of the corner plot.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

This path which looks like a narrow alley or the bottom of a ravine leads visitors inside the building, to the event hall in the basement and the showrooms on the first and second floors.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

The curves used in the elevation surfaces on the north side and the east side represent those of a female body.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

The graceful curved surface walls were created by connecting the curves with a straight line.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

These curved walls are used as a motif of this architecture, and you can see them not only in the façade but also in the internal spaces on each floor.

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Use: show room, event hall, office
Client: Sunwell Group

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Architect: Takatotamagami Architectural Design/Takato Tamagami + Be-Fun Design/Tsutomu Hasegawa
Location: Sendagaya, Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo, Japan

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Date of completion: 29th, February, 2008
Structure: reinforced concrete structure + steel structure

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Exterior wall materials: custom-made stucco/ timber pine natural resin varnish finish
Roof materials: seat waterproofing

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Interior wall materials: concrete finish/ timber pine natural resin varnish finish / plasterboard EP
Interior floor materials: calcium silicate board/ cement plastering

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun

Building area: 221m2
Total floor area: 992m2

Sunwell Muse by Takato Tamagami and Be-Fun