Zero Space | Igarashi Design Studio

Like the flow of a river 

“ZERO SPACE” was created as a relaxing space for students at Musashino Art University. 

This space consists of glass windows with 35m in length from east to west and four entrances on each side – north, east, south and west. In other words, it is a glazed showcase space.

During the break time, many students pass through this space as a flow path. The layout of bench seats is carefully planned to block the central flow that is a shortcut. Moving the bench seats creates a simple open space for multi-purposes use. The design motif of the bench is pebbles, and it is not difficult to imagine their mobility.

White zero-shaped plate is floating at the center of ceiling, and it creates different characters of the place inside and outside the plate. The inside is an area where pebbles are gathered, and it indicates a sense of the place where one could belong.

The shape of pebbles reproduces the roundness created by the flow of a natural river. User’s flow during the break time is like the flow of a river, and round pebble benches create and gently control the diverse flows that produce different characters of the area. The expression of shape, size, color and textures of pebble benches suggests appropriate softness.

Everyone has their own styles of seating and sleeping, and having searched for an optimum solution, “ZERO SPACE” was created as a highly flexible space to suite each one’s purpose and let people use sensuously both alone and in a group. I would be pleased if user experience could stimulate one’s imagination and awareness.

Light in “ZERO SPACE” is controlled by carefully planned lightings at all time. During the daytime, natural light from window serves as a main light, and as the night is falling, making the most of the zero-shaped plate, the presentation mode of lightings starts and shifts slowly. Yuko Yamashita, a lighting designer, and I considered the lighting plan carefully to create the ideal environment where the students, who were learning space design, could experience the diverse mixture of space and light.