This DoCoMo shop is a relatively large independent store located in rural area specialized in mobile phones. I would say it is quite a rare case.
The store comprises an ample waiting space, counter area, and offices at the rear. There is also one large, and one small meeting space on the first floor. This shop is open to the community and provides comfortable meeting space for local users. It assists making connections within local community.
This building is composed of two large volumes placed on top of each other. I tried to design an attractive space that wouldn’t appear too vacant or monotonic. The design of this building is an abstract forest with dynamic and elegant look. The beauty of this project is the harmony of aesthetic and structure.
Hiroaki KIMURA
Engineer’s comment
The architecture of DoCoMo shop gives off a new and innovative impression. The most characteristic features are the bristling thin columns that create an ample and comfortable space. The columns had to be thin, and no bracing or load bearing walls could be used because it was designed as a waiting space. Thus, we decided to use rigid frame structure for the office area so that columns in the waiting area could carry just the vertical load and the snow load. As a result, we were able to reduce the size of steel pipes to ϕ 114.3 and achieve the “abstract forest”. The roof trusses are connected by rigid joints so that they could transmit the seismic shear force from the meeting area roof to the structural members of office area. The house-shaped bent tuber pipe by itself is so weak that it has very small resistance to the vertical load. Therefore, we have placed thick diaphragms to reinforce the frame. The diaphragms can also prevent the frame to spread out when resisting vertical load. We have made an additional analysis of three-dimensional frame buckling to maintain the structural safety of this very thin structure.
Iori KANEO (Morisako/Kaneo laboratory, Kyoto Institute of Technology)
