Spiralab by KINO Architects

The Tokyo based KINO Architects studio has been recruited, in the past years, for numerous projects all around Japan, including the construction of a chemical research laboratory to enrich the boosting industrial area of Chiba. The building has been completed several years ago and occupies today an important position with respect to the concept of Space Efficiency. Spiralab was requested to be built in a way in which it could provide a higher level of flexibility of its experimental rooms, facilities that are usually very specific in technology and almost impossible to employ for more than one use. In this laboratory researchers are therefore able to adapt with versatility the many quarters of the building to the nature of their projects, all this in a context of High Security and High Comfort. These two further requests were also very well met by the team of architects, through the addition of the most modern security systems and an extremely pleasant design of offices and break areas.

The atypical name and structure of the edifice are attributable to the characteristics of a spiral: a continuously winding object gradually curving around a central point, the perfect metaphor of the laboratory complex being developed around these three fundamental requests. The spiral shape also becomes the key to the interpretation of the final request of the building's sponsors, a Symbolism of the architecture to help promote the company's capabilities around the world.

The structure is completely earthquake proof, with its parts arranged in a U-shaped block: the linear plan of the rooms and laboratories surround a middle horizontal slice, dedicated to a simple garden. The various types of work-spaces are arranged according to their function, with meeting rooms and offices located on the middle floor because of their need of privacy, while labs are found on the lower floors, as they do not require any particular separation between one another.

Federica Maiorano