Gold Architecture · 2020
The PolyCuboid Office Building
- Golden A' Design Award 2020 in Architecture
- CLIENT: TIA Co., Ltd.,
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 52,621
- Verification code 995EF8FE37 · Verify this award
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About The PolyCuboid Office Building
The PolyCuboid is the new headquarter building for TIA, a company that provides insurance services. The first floor was shaped by the limits of the site and the 700mm diameter water pipe that is crossing the site underground limiting foundation space. The metallic structure dissolves into the diverse blocs of the composition. The pillars and beams vanish from the space syntax, projecting the impression of an object, while also eliminating that of a building. The volumetric design is inspired by TIA’s Logo turning the building itself into an icon representing the company.
About the Golden A' Design Award
The PolyCuboid Office Building is a Golden A' Design Award winner, an immensely prestigious recognition granted to first-rate, marvelous, and outstanding designs. Golden winners are exceedingly innovative, visionary, and glamorously dazzling creations that reflect the prodigy, wisdom, and prowess of their designers. The PolyCuboid Office Building is expected to be a highly praised, trendsetting, and monumental invention that delivers unprecedented value. This Golden A' Design Award-winning design is a spectacular, respected project that highly benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. The PolyCuboid Office Building creates intense feelings of desire, evokes passion, encourages creativity, and fascinates us.
Press Kit
- 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.