The movable furniture for Koichiro Azuma Laboratory at the University of Tsukuba was designed by ADD.LIVE Architects.
Toward a “Layered” Landscape
A “laboratory” is a vessel that receives diverse people—students from different schools and colleges who choose to belong to it of their own accord.
When I first visited T University, I was strongly drawn to the scenes visible through the framed glass doors of each laboratory. The traces of people and activities glimpsed through the doors seemed to form the distinctive character of each lab. For this project, therefore, we began by considering how the Azuma Laboratory should appear when seen through its framed door.
A “layered” landscape refers to a condition in which diverse activities do not exist in isolation, but coexist while allowing one to sense the presence of others and the relationships between them. In the context of a laboratory, it is a space where scenes such as student seminars, the professor at work, and the view outside the windows gently intersect and coexist.
For this project, we designed a large triangular movable fixture for the laboratory, named ALF — Azuma Lab Finder. ALF has openings that pass through the triangular structure. These openings control sightlines so that the entire laboratory cannot be grasped at once, while also framing partial views like small viewing windows. Because ALF can be moved freely on casters, it can loosely divide the space according to the activities or mood of the moment, creating new places to inhabit.
Beyond the framed door, the project aims to create a laboratory with a “layered” landscape, where multiple activities and presences overlap and coexist.
Text:ADD.LIVE Architects