oak Konan Shinagawa

This building is a mid-rise, 12-story office building located near the harbor in Tokyo, Japan. Labor shortage have recently become major challenges in the Japanese Construction Industry. The distinctive, white lattice-like exterior frame is an outer shell made of precast concrete serving as structural frame as well as sun-shading device. The use of precast concrete elements fabricated off-site ensures high quality and accuracy. The structural frame was designed without horizontal connection, which enables to simplify the site erection. Productivity on site has significantly improved by simply dropping columns and beams from above like building blocks. In addition, combined with the steel construction of the core this hybrid structure creates a column-free office space. Supply and exhaust air for the office is provided on the east, west, north sides from equipment units (air supply units and exhaust air units) built into the aluminum curtain wall inside the columns and beams. By taking advantage of the depth (500mm) of the exterior shell structure and installing air intake and exhaust air outlets on the same exterior wall surface, the amount of ductwork in the office ceiling was significantly reduced, which also contributes to high buildability. The deep structural frame also controls the amount of direct solar radiation and significantly reduces the heat loads. In addition, the equipment units, except for the air supply and exhaust, feature manually operable windows. The fusion of design, structure, and equipment enhances high buildability and sustainability and has improved the added-value of the building.