Selected Project
Y-factory
A workplace study articulated by Shinshu larch
Chikuma, Nagano, Japan 2020
Project
Architecture in context
- Location
- Chikuma, Nagano, Japan
- Year
- 2020
- Type
- Unbuilt
This project was conceived as a new factory for a manufacturer of timber window systems. The site is located along the Chikuma River and is surrounded by agricultural land.
The proposal sought to create a timber-framed industrial building that would make extensive use of the company’s own products. At its centre was a large-span space of approximately twenty metres, constructed wherever possible from commonly available timber sections.
The roof structure was composed of 60-millimetre-square timber members arranged in a densely interwoven configuration. By setting the structural planes in a repetitive zigzag formation, the system was intended to produce a ceiling of greater visual depth and material presence than a conventional timber truss. The exposed structure itself would therefore serve as the principal architectural expression of the interior.
The use of Shinshu larch further reinforced the building’s relationship to its regional context, creating a factory environment grounded in the material culture and forestry resources of Nagano. The joints were deliberately conceived as simple configurations in order to ensure straightforward and practical construction.
The project was ultimately left unbuilt as a result of the combined social and economic effects of the global timber shortage, the COVID-19 pandemic, and related market disruptions. Nevertheless, the structural design had already been completed, and the proposal was developed on a technically substantiated basis. It therefore remains feasible and capable of realization even today.