Prototype Design Lab - Komatsu Seiren Fabric Lab

Komatsu Seiren Fabric Lab

Kengo Kuma & Associates | Office / Lab | Ishikawa

This is a renovation of an office building in rigid-frame RC structure to strengthen its quake resistance using carbon fiber, and transform the interior into a museum called Fab Labo, a space to display the technology of Komatsu Seiren, the client company. Drawing from a technique of braiding ropes in this region, it became possible to add further flexibility to the carbon fiber. The fiber rod is said to be ten times stronger than iron, and this is the very first time that this material was used as a means of reinforcement against earthquakes. The potential of this light and soft fiber is explored inside the building as well. There is a lighting duct in fiber and on the rooftop, an experimental greening is being conducted using porous ceramic panels (called Greenbiz), which was generated from the process of producing fiber.

Project Summary by Kengo Kuma & Associates

Highlights

(Awards | Exhibitions | Publications)

KUMA Complete Works, “Komatsu Seiren Fabric Laboratory FA-BO” by Philip Jodidio, Taschen, pp. 280-289 (ISBN 978-3-8365-7512-6), 2021
Kengo Kuma Complete Works, “Komatsu Seiren Fabric Laboratory FA-BO” by Kenneth Frampton, Thames & Hudson, pp. 220-225 (ISBN 978-0-500-34342-5), 2018
Archdaily, “Kengo Kuma Uses Carbon Fiber Strands to Protect Building from Earthquakes” by Kaley Overstreet (ISSN ISSN 0719-8884), 2016
Dezeen, “Kengo Kuma Anchors Japanese Textile Showroom to the Ground with Carbon-Fibre Threads” by Jessica Mairs (ISSN N/A), 2016
Design Boom, “Kengo Kuma Protects Japanese Office Building with Carbon Fiber Curtain” by Natasha Kwok (ISSN N/A), 2016
Small Architecture for Tokyo Olympics & Paralympics 2020, University of Tokyo, Japan, 2015

Overview