Spoon & Tamago - japanese art, design and culture

Studio Velocity is an Aichi-based architecture firm founded in 2006 by Kentaro Kurihara. Working primarily in a muted white palette, the firm has demonstrated unique methods of rethinking lifestyles and our relationships with dwellings. Recently, they were responsible for this renewed visions of public housing in Japan. So when it came time to design their own office in 2018, the architects carried out that same vision, albeit with a slightly more precarious footing.

Studio Velocity envisioned their new office as two spaces defined by a massive, sloping roof. Below the roof is the main office where interspersed work stations and meeting tables allow the majority of the work to get done. Here, the sloping roof alters the height of the ceiling, creating a different atmosphere depending on which part of the office you are in. Three courtyards dot the office with trees, which extend through openings in the roof.

Climb to the 2nd floor and the office opens up to a kitchen, dining room and then a bowl-shaped inhabitable roof. Made from laminate, the roof was engineered to sustain up to 150 occupants and can host meetings, gatherings and other social events. Viewed from Google Earth, the office appears to be a large white cloud floating above a densely populated suburban setting.