The PolyCuboid L’Edifici D’Oficines by Tetsuya Matsumoto

The PolyCuboid L’Edifici D’Oficines by Tetsuya Matsumoto is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award d'Or in Disseny d'Arquitectura, Edificació i Estructures Competition Category.

OrArquitectura· 2020

The PolyCuboid L’Edifici D’Oficines

by Tetsuya Matsumoto

Client: TIA Co., Ltd.,

A' Design Award d'Or Winner in Arquitectura Category

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The Design

About The PolyCuboid L’Edifici D’Oficines

PolyCuboid és el nou edifici de la seu central per a TIA, una empresa que ofereix serveis d'assegurances. El primer pis estava conformat pels límits del jaciment i la canonada d’aigua de 700mm de diàmetre que travessa el terreny del soterrat limitant l’espai de fonamentació. L’estructura metàl·lica es dissol en els diversos blocs de la composició. Els pilars i les bigues desapareixen de la sintaxi espacial, projectant la impressió d’un objecte, alhora que eliminen la d’un edifici. El disseny volumètric s’inspira en el logotip de TIA que converteix l’edifici en una icona que representa l’empresa.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award d'Or

The PolyCuboid L’Edifici D’Oficines és un guanyador del guardó A' Design Award d'Or, un reconeixement immensament prestigiós concedit a dissenys de primera categoria, meravellosos i extraordinaris. Els guanyadors d'Or són creacions summament innovadores, molt visionàries i gloriosament enlluernadores que reflecteixen el prodigi, la saviesa i la destresa dels seus dissenyadors. Es preveu que The PolyCuboid L’Edifici D’Oficines sigui un invent molt elogiat, pioner en tendències i monumental, que aporta un valor sense precedents. Aquest disseny guanyador del guardó A' Design Award d'Or és un projecte espectacular i respectat que beneficia molt i fa avançar els límits de l'art, la ciència, el disseny i la tecnologia. The PolyCuboid L’Edifici D’Oficines crea sentiments intensos de desig, evoca passió, fomenta la creativitat i ens fascina.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: The PolyCuboid is the new headquarter office for TIA.co.ltd, a company that provides insurance services. The building is a composition of three imperfect cuboid shapes that interlace to build up the different spaces. The composition further results in an atrium linking the different functions on the different levels and providing the interior with a large amount of natural light. The metallic structure vanishes from the space syntax turning the building into a sculptural object.
Dimensions & Packaging: Gross Built Area: 621sqm
W20825mm x D13405mm x H18680mm
Tags: Japan, office, insurance, volume, minimalism, interlace, workplace, architecture, atrium
Production Technology: The building stand on a metallic frame structure for its four levels. The complex geometry of the distinct cuboids and their superposition creating half levels accentuates the complexity of the metallic frame that is concealed inside the invisible parts of the volumes. The exterior wall cladding is a polished composite cement panel called Miraia and produced by Nichiha. The interior finishes vary from wallpaper, tiles, black oxide steel, stainless steel, and many other materials.
Design Challenge: The main challenge of the design was the water service pipe crossing the site underneath in the middle, limiting the construction to half the area, and calling for cantilevered spaces in the upper levels to compensate. Instead of a conventional building with balconies, recovering to the use of interlaced cuboids results in peculiar spaces and connections that needed to be carefully managed. Privacy and interaction together with the daylighting had also major importance in the design process.
Research: The interaction between three imperfect cuboid forms can create either an alteration of the form or a nonfunctional architectural space. the alteration happens mostly for technical reasons, such as parapet wall placements, ducts, or simply beam locations. How can space syntax be kept clear while saving the entity of each volume? And what kind of spatial and functional interactions could be created between them? Further, how can a volume identity be kept while using different materials.
Inspiration: The PolyCuboid design was inspired by the client initials, TIA, creating the three distinct volumes at first. The design process developed the volumes to the later abstract cuboid forms. The functionality and connection of spaces were inspired by a more dynamic and yet relaxing approach to work that the client want to implement in their headquarter.
Project Duration: Project start: September 2017.
Construction start: December 2018.
Project/Construction End: December 2019.

Location: Designed and constructed in Himeji City, Japan.
Operation Flow: The entrance gives on to the reception counter, elevator hall and a reception space furnished in sofas and coffee table. A raw of private desks for the employees behind an inside glass facade occupies most of the ground level. The Atrium at the other end connects the three first levels through dynamic resting spaces. the second level is occupied by the CEO office, a meeting room, and booth desks, while the third and forth level includes a gym, a recreational room and a dinning space.
Image Credits: Image #1: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, PolyCuboid, 2019.
Image #2: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, PolyCuboid, 2019.
Image #3: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, PolyCuboid, 2019.
Image #4: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, PolyCuboid, 2019.
Image #5: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, PolyCuboid, 2019.