Interview with Hayato Ishii

After working for three years in the design office of Daniela Puppa in Milan, I opened the studio acca first-class architectural office in Tokyo in 2004. In 2017, the firm was incorporated as studio acca Inc. The firm has been designing, supervising and designing many detached houses, villas and condominiums, etc. With the increase in the number of people seeking a new lifestyle, the number of projects at Lake Kawaguchi and Lake Biwa has increased, and we are working through trial and error with the builders to create a place that is more personal to them. We place the greatest importance on designing through dialogue with the builders, rather than creating a building as a work of art. What do they value when building a building, and what do they want to do there? By discussing these issues at length, we come up with more enjoyable ideas and propose designs and designs that we think are best for the builder.

I believe that design is not only about design. In my opinion, a good design is not only beautiful in terms of design, but also well-balanced in terms of productivity, cost, and functionality. I believe that design is an essential and important thing for human beings to lead a rich life. At least, for me, it is.

I am attracted to designing spaces where people live. These include houses, holiday homes and hotels. I like to imagine people's lives. I am also attracted to designing spaces that the client can discuss with me. Of course, I am confident in my own design, but after all, I am creating a space for the client, so I want to communicate as closely as possible and get as excited as possible with each other as I design.

What I would like to design someday is a building like the Farnsworth House designed by Mies van der Rohe. It may be a little inconvenient for living, but the stable horizontal lines and the way it brings the outside environment into the interior are very interesting. However, if I were to design this building, I would think about whether it could be made of wood and glass instead of steel and glass. I would like to have a slightly more human-friendly texture. Also very interesting is the Schrader house designed by Rietveld. The idea of using partitions to identify rooms is something that only Rietveld, who also designs furniture, could come up with. This is very helpful when designing a small house in Japan.

The first building we designed was a corporate office building for a computer software company. The client had three main requirements: perfect security, consideration for the physically challenged, and visibility from the highway. In terms of security, we not only blocked material intrusion with a security system, but also blocked sight lines by using glass blocks on the walls that allow light to pass through but block sight lines. In addition, a ramp for wheelchair access was installed. The ramp, which tends to be in the shadows because of its functional priority, is placed in parallel with the stairs, which signify the connection to the next step, and was purposely adopted as the main façade. The facade of the building can be seen clearly from the highway running in front of the site, creating an outstanding advertising effect.

I like matte colored materials. And I also like materials with a textured surface rather than smooth mirrored surfaces. This is because a material with a textured surface expresses the shadows in the room very beautifully.

I think I am most creative in the moment when I make a plan for a large empty lot, imagining the surrounding environment and the client's life. Everything is a hypothetical plan based on my own imagination and assumptions, and I am always nervous when I present it to the client. Through dialogue with the client, I brush up that hypothesis and evolve it into a fixed theory that the client is really looking for.