I love the idea behind Sha-shokudo, a new eating spot in Shibuya inspired by company cafeterias, which is kinda like a real one — it’s designed/produced by Suppose Design Office, and in the same building as its office, so serves as a de facto cafeteria for its employees. More details and photos in this Spoon & Tamago post.
A new post on Designboom showcases the beautiful new Tokyo offices of Airbnb, produced with Suppose Design Office. Despite the news we hear of Airbnb having some legal issues in Japan — or even just not being welcomed by residents who dislike seeing their neighbors rent out their spaces — it seems like the company is doing quite well in Japan. On a personal note, it was always great to have them partner up with PechaKucha, especially for our annual PechaKucha Pow Wow, a summit that brings PechaKucha Night organizers to Tokyo for a few days of sharing — Airbnb Japan provided discounts to these organizers.
Didn’t get to attend last week’s DesignTide? Dezeen posts a few photos of this year’s space design, which was again by Hiroshima-based architect Makoto Tanijiri (Suppose Design Office). I don’t think the photos quite capture how well it worked though — most of the time, when in a booth, you couldn’t really see what was in the nearby booths, which encouraged exploration (versus quick scanning).
It may just be a proposal, but Suppose Design Office‘s “Urban Airgap” design for a competition in Greece looks pretty damn amazing. It would be to revitalize a rundown area of Athens.
In their research, Suppose Design Office noted that the existing building designs in the Kerameikos-Metaxourgeio area did not allow for a window opening into the adjacent property.
“Urban Airgap” aimed to create as many openings — airgaps — on each site. This was achieved by building central core towers, containing a stairwell, to which the residential units are cantilevered from the cores and which form a sandwich that encloses the main social communal zone.
There’s much more to see in this Designboom post.