Tomoaki Uno’s forest-inspired office in Japan is mesmerising
Tomoaki Uno's new office and events space in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture offers a way through the woods
The Meito Arts Association Office, designed by Tomoaki Uno, a 62-year-old Japanese architect, is unlike any other workplace. To enter it, you are forced to bend down, then squeeze through a circular hole cut into the middle of a large cement block. When you’ve straightened up, you are suddenly confronted by large tree trunks towering over you from floor to ceiling. One of them is slightly out of line. ‘We couldn’t fit that one in but I didn’t want to waste it, so we just found a random place for it in between the others,’ the architect says. Its placement makes the room feel more like a real forest, rather than what it is: an architect-designed office space. Could we call it ‘Forest Office’?
‘I don’t mind what you call it,’ Uno says, unperturbed. ‘Each project is like a child I’ve nurtured, but that child will not be a carbon copy of me. Whatever I create as an architect is not a direct expression of me. It will have its own life.’
Uno works intuitively, in a way that is unusual for an architect. The son of a plasterer, he grew up surrounded by craftspeople: ‘Artisans can’t really hide behind their work. The end result will tell you all you need to know about them.’ He is distrustful of fancy words. He never produces architectural models or renders either. So, how does he communicate his ideas to his clients? ‘I promise to all my clients that I will personally come around if something doesn’t work and I’ll get it fixed,’ he replies.
Forest Office by Tomoaki Uno
The office, located in a suburb of Nagoya city, where Uno’s architectural studio is based, has been stripped down to its bare concrete walls. A small kitchen unit has been placed on one side of the entrance, a toilet cubicle on another.
One half of the spacious office, which is located on the ground floor of a non-descript concrete building, contains a lone desk and a chair for Kazunori Ota, a young entrepreneur who has a business importing clothing. Ota works alone. Bags and boxes are strewn on the floor.
Uno recruited his long-term trusted collaborator, Yasutoshi Sakurai, to oversee the construction process. ‘Mr Sakurai is a gardener, so he is in a profession that is deeply in tune with nature,’ says Uno. Each tree trunk, procured from a timber yard in Yoshino, a mountainous region south of Nara for 80,000 yen, roughly £500 each, was lifted upright using pulleys and ropes, then fixed into the air-compressed recycled cement debris covering the entire floor space, averaging 30cm in depth.
The floor is uneven and its roughness recalls the unruly wilderness of nature. Why the tree trunks? Uno believes that the architect’s job is to bring people as close to nature as possible: ‘That’s why I leave materials in their natural state. My clients can then experience nature through the houses I build for them, through light, humidity, wood, cement, smell and noise…’
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
‘I wasn’t prepared for the loud crackling sound coming out of these tree trunks when I first moved into the office,’ Ota recalls. The sound is caused by the raw tree trunks, as they dry out. The architect says that the sound of new wood crackling was frequently heard in traditional minka houses: ‘It was as if these houses were alive.’
Uno had previously designed a house for Ota, not far from the new office. The businessman, who studied art as a student, didn’t want a conventional work space. Uno was given free rein. ‘I had no idea how the tree trunks would fill up the space – to be honest with you, I was shocked to see how big they seemed when they turned up.’
Uno set up his own studio in 1990 at the age of 30, and now has a portfolio of around 40 built projects, mostly houses. He has developed a small but significant fan base outside Japan, mainly in Mexico and Brazil. The architect, however, remains under the radar for most people, perhaps because he is that tree trunk that has been placed off the grid.
A version of this article appears in the April 2023 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print from 9 March, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
-
Three sleek new design showrooms you need to see in Los Angeles
Three international design showrooms have started a retail design boom in Los Angeles. Here are the stores to put on your radar
By Carole Dixon Published
-
Brutalism in film: the beautiful house that forms the backdrop to The Room Next Door
The Room Next Door's production designer discusses mood-boarding and scene-setting for a moving film about friendship, fragility and the final curtain
By Anne Soward Published
-
How Leigh Bowery and the Blitz Kids defined 1980s subculture with make-up
As Leigh Bowery and the Blitz Kids of 1980s London are celebrated in a new exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum, Isobel Van Dyke explores the hair and make-up looks that defined them
By Isobel Van Dyke Published
-
The Kumagaya House in Saitama is a modest family home subdivided by a soaring interior
This Kumagaya House is a domestic puzzle box taking the art of the Japanese house to another level as it intersects a minimal interior with exterior spaces, balconies and walkways
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Shigeru Ban wins 2024 Praemium Imperiale Architecture Award
The 2024 Praemium Imperiale Architecture Award goes to Japanese architect Shigeru Ban
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Pace Tokyo is a flowing Sou Fujimoto experience that ‘guides visitors through the space’
Art gallery Pace Tokyo, designed by Sou Fujimoto in a Studio Heatherwick development, opens in the Japanese capital
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
How the Arc’teryx Tokyo Creation Centre is all about craft, openness and cross-pollination
Arc’teryx launches its Tokyo Creation Centre, a hub for craftsmanship designed by Torafu Architects, embodying the brand's ethos
By Daniel Scheffler Published
-
Craft store Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten at Narita airport is an ode to travel
The Japanese homewear and craft store Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten wows with bright interior made of moveable ‘trunks’ by Tokyo-based studio 14sd designs
By Joanna Kawecki Published
-
Space Un celebrates contemporary African art, community and connection in Japan
Space Un, a new art venue by Edna Dumas, dedicated to contemporary African art, opens in Tokyo, Japan
By Nana Ama Owusu-Ansah Published
-
Monospinal is a Japanese gaming company’s HQ inspired by its product’s world
A Japanese design studio fulfils its quest to take Monospinal, the Tokyo HQ of a video game developer, to the next level
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Modern Japanese houses inspiring minimalism and avant-garde living
We tour the best Japanese architecture and modern Japanese houses designed by international and local architects that open up possibilities for all types of lifestyle, from minimalist to communal in Japanese architecture.
By Ellie Stathaki Published