Descente Blanc

In order to incorporate “movement” in space, in this project for Descente Schemata Architects focused on redesigning a service process, or a routine movement of a shop staff going to pick up items from a stock room and delivering them to a customer.

Ceiling space, equipped with operable hanger racks going up and down, is allocated for the stock space. Here the shop staff’s routine movement is converted to vertical movements of the hanger racks. The hang racks can be used for display, utilized as “moving displays” which can be changed day by day.

The ceiling height of the first floor is 3.22 m, and the shop floor is 50 cm lower than the ground level. Hangers move from the ceiling all the way down to the ground level. The increased range of vertical motion of hangers, allowing people to see products above and below eye level, generates the vibrant and lively atmosphere inside. In addition, the architects provided a kitchen on the second floor as well as a garden and a rooftop space, in order to enhance active interaction between the shop and the local community.

Descente Blanc, Fukuoka, Japan
Program: shop
Architects: Schemata Architects (Jo Nagasaka)
Design team: Ryosuke Yamamoto, Kosuke Nakano, Ou Ueno
Area: 178 sqm
Completion: September 2015