Scribd
Upload
18 views

Multimedia Library of Sendai

Architecture Research

Uploaded by

Ashley Dzere
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
18 views

Multimedia Library of Sendai

Architecture Research

Uploaded by

Ashley Dzere
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

ASHLEY R DZERE 15702177

THE MULTIMEDIA LIBRARY IN SENDAI

The Sendai multimedia library was founded in 2001 on January 26 and designed by an architect called Toyo Ito. Ito’s proposal had an idea of “fluid” space of
technology. He took into consideration new media/computing as forming an integral part of the contemporary urban environment.

The building was erected as a transparent cube through which thin floor plates float suspended on organic-looking sea-weed like “tubes.” The cube was
meant to be read as a small representative element of an infinite, viscous information space, with the four edges sealed with glass facades which, through
their reflections, would allow the building to alternately dematerialize or repeat itself creating a kind of ephemeral connection with infinite space.

Structure and materials


The structure of the Sendai multimedia library is composed of three main elements: tubes, plates and skin.

The plates (floor slabs) are composed of a honeycomb- like network of steel sections filled in with lightweight concrete. The steel honeycomb structure
allows the plate to span between irregularly spaced vertical supports without beams, and with minimal thickness of the slab itself. Each floor

hosts a different set of the building’s many facilities


which are more or less free to interact with each other over the surface of a given plate.

The skin, or facade treatment differs on all five exposed sides of the building, modulating light and views, creating a uniformity across each face of the cube
during the day. The main (south-facing) facade is double-glazed and functions as part of the building’s climate control system. The materials which compose
the skin range from glass, to steel panels, to aluminium mesh.

The most intriguing structural elements are the tubes, composed of thick-walled steel pipes; they range in size from 7 to 30 inches in diameter. Although
they appear to be continuous, the tubes were actually manufactured in floor-height segments and were assembled sequentially, floor-by-floor. The tubes
perform a number of functions. Firstly, they serve to structurally support the building. The tubes also house vertical circulation of air, water, electricity, light
and people within the building. The constant motion of people through the stairs and elevators, as well as the glow of light passing through these tubes
creates a perceptual link between the floors, and the functions they house, which might have felt isolated from one another. The tubes create links
throughout the full height of the building , they are always glazed to provide fire protection between floors.

The size of each tube is determined by its internal function – stairs, elevator, light shaft. Moreover, since the exact dimensions of the tubes vary from floor
to floor, this variation, along with differentiation in the lighting colours between floors, adds a distinctive character to each level. Structure becomes
decorated.
Functions
 First floor: Cafe, shop, information desk, “open square” multi-purpose event venue

 Second floor: Multimedia library, children’s library, inquiries for sight and hearing impaired, meeting room, current newspapers and magazines

 Third Floor: Library

 Fourth Floor: Library mezzanine

 Fifth Floor: Public gallery spaces

 Sixth Floor: Professional gallery/exhibition space

 Seventh floor : Cinema, studio spaces, meeting rooms, administration offices

The architect used different elements because he considered durability and technology such that differences in spatial composition provided by the
tubes, each level’s ceiling height and design, partition material and lighting colour reinforce the differentiation in uses to create space which could
not fairly be described as homogeneous. Perhaps most striking, however, is the differentiation between levels is the furniture designed by several
different designers which through colour, style, and layout becomes one of the most prominent identifying features of a particular floor.

You might also like