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Architects: Nikken Housing System Ltd
- Area: 4397 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Harunori Noda, Gankohsha
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Manufacturers: FIGLA Co., Ltd., KIKUKAWA KOGYO CO., LTD. , SK Kaken Co., Ltd., Sankyo Tateyama, Inc.
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Lead Architects: Nikken Housing System
Text description provided by the architects. Senior Home Interwoven in the City - Located on a serene, green street in central Tokyo, the Nibankan (Phase 2 building) defies the conventional notion of elder care homes. Rather than isolating seniors from the city, we propose a new Nursing Home that allows them to embrace urban life, living with dignity and comfort. Japan's rapidly aging population faces issues involving isolation and a shortage of care workers. Our response to this is a home that preserves the health and agency of elderly citizens through community integration. We designed the Nibankan to seamlessly blend with the local society and society. The strategic positioning of spaces on a continuum of distance from the neighborhood empowers residents to control their level of engagement with the community. The design features dining rooms, salons, and lounges that open to and face the street. This fosters casual interaction with neighbors. The communal dining room serves as a stage for public collaborative events, bridging generational gaps and enhancing the lives of the residents. Nibankan Phase 2 signifies a bold step toward dignified, interconnected senior living at the heart of Tokyo's vibrant cityscape.
Confronted with a challenging steep slope, we ingeniously arranged entrances and exits for people and vehicles while maximizing the number of stories. The building's main entrance at the slope's base boasts a grand two-story glass-walled entrance hall connected to a striking three-story top-lit atrium. This floods the underground space with light, defying its subterranean nature. The strategic interplay of exterior and interior levels imparts a remarkable sense of openness and continuity to all the spaces, creating a fluid spatial journey throughout.
The design employs an innovative natural ventilation system, where windows and toplights in the three-story atrium and corridors respond dynamically to wind pressure differences. The building's exterior showcases bespoke aluminum louvers in four modules designed for elegance and structural strength. These delicate louvers enhance building aesthetics, ensure privacy, reduce solar radiation, and discreetly conceal outdoor air-conditioning units.
Residents find a variety of inviting community spaces throughout the building. The double-height glass-walled entrance lobby has a grand staircase that leads to a vast three-story atrium. This gives residents an al fresco ambiance indoors, basking in the warm sunlight pouring through a generous skylight. Gravity ventilation channels the natural breezes into communal areas like the lounge, dining room, and strolling-friendly corridors. These naturally illuminated and ventilated spaces blur the lines between indoors and outdoors, creating a seamless connection to the external world while reducing the building's environmental impact. For maximum inclusivity, we've crafted 23 unique room plans spanning from 35 to 80 square meters. Our aim is to offer residents the diversity and choice to find a unit that feels like the natural progression from their previous living space. The building and its individual rooms are thoughtfully designed with wheelchair accessibility and nursing efficiency in mind, ensuring easy circulation and enhancing overall quality of life.
