165 MUSASHINO ART UNIVERSITY LIBRARY sou fujimoto architects


the client wanted a building that would give the university a distinctive and marketable identity


Previous page_ From the grand stair, Fujimoto’s ‘forest of books’ uses large apertures to connect with the cherry blossom trees that line the campus avenues Above_ The spiral plan uncoils to create interstitial spaces that frame the library entrance Above right_ 19mm float glass encapsulates the external red cedar envelope


are now payable, attracting students is an essential part of any institution’s business plan. The competition for this commission was also high, including many of Fujimoto’s peers, such as Taira Nishizawa, elder brother of SANAA’s Ryue Nishizawa and joint winner of the 2005 AR Awards for Emerging Architecture. In the end, however, it was Fujimoto’s ‘forest of books’ concept that made an impact on the jury. As previewed in the ‘Japan: Back


to Basics’ issue (AR August 2007), the competition-winning concept was quite different to what was finally built. It was based on a series of independent rectilinear book stacks, dispersed to create a field – or forest – of monolithic blocks. Varying in size, with some large enough to contain essential services and ancillary spaces, the blocks promoted what the architect described as ‘an instinct to wander’, recalling how in his experience libraries are places where readers are encouraged to ‘get lost’. Unfortunately, however,


Fujimoto’s first design came under 044 The Architectural Review / October 2010 / Buildings


immediate concept-breaking scrutiny when user-group involvement began. While the institution wanted a landmark building for its campus, those who would ultimately run the library needed a functional building that would be an improvement on the existing library, which is soon to re-open as a gallery, also to Fujimoto’s design. But in typical jovial manner,


Fujimoto describes the redesign as a positive process, as he willingly took on criticisms about ease of navigation. The first design broke up the established numeric system of classification to produce a layout that would, it was claimed, have been impossible to manage, causing confusion and leading to too many scholars becoming ‘lost’. He was asked to reconsider options that would offer linear as well as meandering routes between categories, ‘so we came up with the spiral plan’. This enabled him to provide ease of navigation along the length of the spiralling book stacks, while also giving


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100