Yuko Nagayama & Associates

A 15-story, 48-unit studio apartment complex for rent in Shin-Okachimachi.
The area surrounding the project site is a grid-like district with old buildings, and in recent years, a forest of square condominiums and office buildings have sprung up in the area, filling the entire floor-area ratio. The housing complex was also required to maximize the use of the floor-area ratio.

The most effective way to secure volume was examined, and after considering the relationship with the surrounding area, an R-shaped fan was finally chosen to deviate from the strong grid of the surrounding area. The 45-meter-high volume is set back in the back of the building, and the sense of oppression is reduced by the empty space at the corner.

The balconies create the face of the studio apartments. The balconies of the surrounding condominiums are similarly effective in terms of evacuation, and the separation panels appear in accordance with the span of the dwelling units, contributing to the uniform appearance.

In addition, they are mainly used as outdoor unit storage areas and are often not well utilized by the residents. In this project as well, priority was given to efficiently arranging the rooms and increasing the rentable ratio, so the rooms were stacked almost identically, and naturally, balconies were attached to them as well. Therefore, we began by considering the balconies. The structure of this high-rise apartment building was required to be RC, so a rigid-frame structure with a weight advantage was adopted and the perimeter of the structure was made to extend out, allowing for a high degree of freedom in the expression of the balcony.