Magritte’s / Atelier Tekuto

June 10, 2011

Magritte’s / Atelier Tekuto

Magritte’s is situated in the middle of Tokyo, on a tiny 45.61 m2 of plot of land. The width of front road restricted the size of construction machinery. The conditions made it extremely difficult to build the residence. The client was a married couple in their thirties, and their simple request was the use of concrete for every part of the house including floor, wall, tables etc. They didn’t even care for storage space to satisfy this request.

Architect: Atelier Tekuto
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Photographs: Makoto Yoshida

Atelier Tekuto believe creating architecture is a fight against gravity. There are two ways to escape from the gravity: Use energy to push against gravity like a rocket, or create a structure that contains a volume lighter than air such as a helium balloon. Atelier Tekuto was inspired by Magritte’s work on surrealism and proposed the motif of a massive concrete block escaping from the gravity. For the structure, Atelier Tekuto chose precast concrete with pre-stressed steel bar, to separate the volume between ground floor and basement. Finally Atelier Tekuto found a new element of architecture by rediscovering the common things that were once for granted.