Occupying an an old warehouse building in the industrial area of Kaigan in Tokyo’s Minato ward, the Hue Plus studio is a space dedicated to the creation of food photography. Owned by Amana, Japan's biggest photographic agent, here, the country’s food experts can take advantage of Hue’s nine kitchen studios, extensive food research library, cafe, kitchen tools and now, it’s very own cake shop.
Having designed the original space (which occupies the warehouse’s sixth and seventh floors) back in 2012, this year saw Tokyo architects Schemata revisit the project to renovate three kitchen studios on the building’s 512 sq m fifth floor, as well as add a new library and cake shop space.
The library, which was originally located on the sixth floor, has been relocated to the fifth, leaving the sixth floor entirely to tableware storage.
Connected by a window in the wall, the new concrete-floored cake shop and library display all the hallmarks of Schemata’s utilitarian style; white grid bookshelves accessed by a rolling ladder line the walls of the library while round, square and triangular OSB board tables with mismatching white chairs provide opportunities for interaction throughout the space.
To create a connection between the new floor’s multiple functionalities, a window in the wall of the library looks out across a corridor into the cake shop kitchen where freshly baked goods are on display. ’We provided a kind of “backstage” space in between, intended as a “buffer zone” that visually connects both functions while keeping some distance in between at the same time,’ explain the architects. ‘We also intended to create a place for gathering by connecting the seemingly unrelated spaces.’
The space, called Hue Plus and owned by Amana, Japan's biggest photographic agent, also now has a new library space
Part of the project was the renovation of three kitchen studios on the building’s fifth floor
The complex features Schemata’s signature utilitarian style
INFORMATION
For more information visit the Schemata website
Photography: Takumi Ota
ADDRESS
Studio Hue
3-5-1 Kaigan
Minato-ku, Tokyo
Japan 108-0022
-
Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf unveil Calder Gardens in PhiladelphiaThe new cultural landmark presents Alexander Calder’s work in dialogue with nature and architecture, alongside the release of Jacques Herzog’s 'Sketches & Notes'. Ellie Stathaki interviews Herzog about the project.
-
Beloved British screenwriter Dennis Potter inspires an exhibition with a difference at Studio VoltaireHilary Lloyd's multi-faceted exhibition at Studio Voltaire considers Dennis Potter's life and work, from much-loved TV classics to power inequalities
-
Insert here: London Design Festival gets intimate with insertable designAt London Design Festival, Heirloom Studio showcases 36 objects – some life-saving, some pleasure-giving, all made to go inside the body
-
A new Tadao Ando monograph unveils the creative process guiding the architect's practiceNew monograph ‘Tadao Ando. Sketches, Drawings, and Architecture’ by Taschen charts decades of creative work by the Japanese modernist master
-
A Tokyo home’s mysterious, brutalist façade hides a secret urban retreatDesigned by Apollo Architects, Tokyo home Stealth House evokes the feeling of a secluded resort, packaged up neatly into a private residence
-
Landscape architect Taichi Saito: ‘I hope to create gentle landscapes that allow people’s hearts to feel at ease’We meet Taichi Saito and his 'gentle' landscapes, as the Japanese designer discusses his desire for a 'deep and meaningful' connection between humans and the natural world
-
Campaigners propose reuse to save Kenzo Tange’s modernist ‘Ship Gymnasium’ in JapanThe Pritzker Prize-winning architect’s former Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium is at risk of demolition; we caught up with the campaigners who hope to save it
-
A new photo book explores the symbolic beauty of the Japanese garden‘Modern Japanese Gardens’ from Thames & Hudson traces the 20th-century evolution of these serene spaces, where every element has a purpose
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s favourite July housesFrom geometric Japanese cottages to restored modernist masterpieces, these are the best residential projects to have crossed the architecture desk this month
-
How an icon of Japanese Metabolist architecture took on a life of its own – even after its destructionWhen Kishō Kurokawa designed the modular Nakagin Capsule Tower more than 50 years ago, he imagined it boarding ships and travelling the world. Now it has, thanks to a new show at MoMA
-
Mayumi Miyawaki’s Fukumura Cottage puts this lesser-known Japanese modernist in the spotlightDiscover the little-known modernist architect through this private home in Japan’s Tochigi prefecture countryside
