Architectural

Institute of Japan

Design Review

Chofu campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music

Tomohiko Yamanashi, Tatsuya Hatori, Yasuyo Sasayama and Yoshito Ishihara
NIKKEN SEKKEI, Tokyo, Japan

Correspondence Abstract
Yasuyo Sasayama, NIKKEN SEKKEI, Tokyo, Japan.
Email: yasuyo.sasayama@nikken.jp Project for a music school. Due to the superfluous consciousness of ambient noise
and sound insulation, many music college facilities employ a style in which the
Funding information exterior appears as a closed box and the lesson rooms are lined up along corri-
No funding information is provided. dors in a jail-cell-like manner in the interior. In this project, we tried to break
Received July 3, 2017; Accepted November 27, 2017
down such an image. By exposing the volume of the lesson rooms to the exte-
rior, small, uneven, courtyard-like spaces between neighboring rooms were cre-
doi: 10.1002/2475-8876.12025 ated, and the volume of the building was broken down. As a result, the
characteristic “porous” volume arrangement was born. For such adjustments, it
was more appropriate to use a new computer-based method of design that incor-
porates three-dimensional feedback loops. The porous figures embed a sense of
continuity and surprise, as if one were wandering around a village. This resulted
in the creation of rich spaces and enhanced presence as a whole.

Keywords
BIM, computational design, music college, porous, three-dimension

Figure 1. The composition of the elevated lesson rooms and the piloti space beneath form the peculiar exterior. Chofu Campus of the Toho
Gakuen School of Music © 2014 Harunori Noda [Gankosha]. Reprinted by permission*

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided
the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
© 2018 The Authors. Japan Architectural Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Architectural Institute of Japan.

Jpn Archit Rev | January 2018 | vol. 1 | no. 1 | 24–28

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar3 YAMANASHI et al.

1. Porous arrangements of a large volume space
This is a plan for a music college in a typical low-rise subur-
ban city (Figures 1 and 2).
Previously, the volume arrangements of large-scale buildings
were often discussed from the perspective of limited method-
ologies, such as creating a “city in a park” by surrounding
the spaces with a buffer zone, “forming a group” by consider-
ing the buildings as a colony, or the “Nolli Map” method,
Figure 2. The division of classroom volumes attenuates the impact
on the surrounding areas. Chofu Campus of the Toho Gakuen School
of Music © 2014 Harunori Noda [Gankosha]. Reprinted by permission*
which involves inverting negative voids and positive vol-
umes.1
Here, however, we pursued a system of “porous” arrange-
ment, which creates a sense of continuity from inside to out-
side and delicately picks up contexts without spoiling the
sense of unity that can only be provided by large-scale plans.
Due to the superfluous consciousness of ambient noise and
sound insulation, many music college facilities employ a style
in which the exterior appears as a closed box, and the lesson
rooms are lined up along central corridors in a jail-cell-like
manner. It is ironic that the learning spaces for a creative
activity resemble what we can see in solitary confinement. We
needed to overcome this style and to establish the presence as
a music college while maintaining flexibility in arranging the
lesson rooms (Figure 3 and 4).
The building was planned to have three levels: two levels
above ground and one underground level. On the second floor,
lesson rooms were freely placed according to the program and
without any restrictions, such as standardized span dimensions
and grid lines. By exposing the volume of the lesson rooms to
the exterior, small, uneven, courtyard-like spaces between
neighboring rooms were created, and the volume of the build-
ing was broken down (Figure 5).
Corridors were placed between the lesson rooms for better
sound insulation. This resulted in inserting the exterior into the
interior, which lure wind and natural light. The louder ensem-
ble room was placed on the underground floor, as this area has
better sound insulation. Corridors and a sunken garden were
created, with the same structure as the second floor. As a
result, the characteristic “porous” volume arrangement was

Figure 3. Due to the superfluous consciousness of ambient noise and sound insulation, many music collage facilities employ a style in which
the exterior appears as closed box, which results in the rooms being aligned along the central corridor in a jail-cell-like manner. By separating
and spreading out the lesson rooms throughout the site, this site, this plan, breaks down the volume impact to the neighborhood while improv-
ing the sound insulation between the rooms. Simultaneously, the lesson rooms are separated vertically leaving an open public space in the first
floor of the campus. As a result, both sufficient noise isolation and continuity between the inside and the ambience can be accomplished

Figure 4. Each corner of the rooms has openings to create visual continuity throughout the floor. This anticipates the effect of friendly compe-
tition between students

Jpn Archit Rev | January 2018 | vol. 1 | no. 1 | 25

YAMANASHI et al. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar3

Figure 8. North-south section. 01 Lesson Room 02 Light Court 03

Foyer 04 Machine Room 05 Control Room 06 Staff Room 07 Informa-
tion 08 Office 09 Dispensary 10 Meeting Room 11 PC room 12 Bicycle
Parking

Figure 5. The light from the courtyard penetrating the first and sec-
ond floors. Contrast can be seen between the extroversive ground
floor and massive introversive lesson rooms. Chofu Campus of the
Toho Gakuen School of Music © 2014 Harunori Noda [Gankosha]. Rep-
rinted by permission*

Figure 9. Plans for B1. 01 Lesson Room 02 Light Court 03 Foyer 04

Machine Room 05 Control Room 06 Staff Room 07 Information 08
Office 09 Dispensary 10 Meeting Room 11 PC room 12 Bicycle Parking
Figure 6. Second floor. The lesson rooms with large windows. Chofu
Campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music © 2014 Harunori Noda
[Gankosha]. Reprinted by permission*

Figure 7. The corridor in the second floor. The corner of each room Figure 10. Plans for first floor. 01 Lesson Room 02 Light Court 03
is open to the common area, which maintains visual continuity. Chofu Foyer 04 Machine Room 05 Control Room 06 Staff Room 07 Informa-
Campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music © 2014 Harunori Noda tion 08 Office 09 Dispensary 10 Meeting Room 11 PC room 12 Bicycle
[Gankosha]. Reprinted by permission* Parking

Jpn Archit Rev | January 2018 | vol. 1 | no. 1 | 26

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar3
Figure 11. Plans for second floor. 01 Lesson Room 02 Light Court 03
Foyer 04 Machine Room 05 Control Room 06 Staff Room 07 Informa-
tion 08 Office 09 Dispensary 10 Meeting Room 11 PC room 12 Bicycle
Parking
Figure 12. View of the lesson room from the courtyard. Different
classrooms are visible through the corner, across the corridor. Chofu
Campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music © 2014 Harunori Noda
[Gankosha]. Reprinted by permission*
born, which is large scale but also possesses a sense of unity
while maintaining the continuity of the interior and exterior
spaces (Figures 6 and 7).
In this design, a group of porous walls on uneven grids exist
on the underground floor and the second floor. On the first
floor, the “campus” is a completely different space, having pil-
lars at the intersections of the above and below floors. The
campus unfolds under the porous second floor. It allows the
college to be an open space rather than a closed space
detached from its surroundings and provides a sense of conti-
nuity with the neighborhoods (Figure 8).
The porous volume arrangement, which is created by the tri-
ple-layered uneven grids, in fact works as a system that flexi-
bly adjusts various issues that are inevitable in a large-scale
project and results in a variety of individual spaces.
To make the adjustments for this design, it is more appropriate
to use a new computer-based design method that incorporates
three-dimensional feedback loops rather than using a predeter-
mined harmonic additional line, such as the conventional “grid
Jpn Archit Rev | January 2018 | vol. 1 | no. 1 | 27
YAMANASHI et al.
Figure 13. Second floor. The visual continuity of the common space
and lesson rooms provides stimuli for the students. Chofu Campus of
the Toho Gakuen School of Music © 2014 Harunori Noda [Gankosha].
Reprinted by permission*
Figure 14. First floor. Ground-level semi-indoor open piloti for stu-
dents to gather. Chofu Campus of the Toho Gakuen School of Music
© 2014 Harunori Noda [Gankosha]. Reprinted by permission*
line.” The subtle “changes” and “misalignments” are created by
persistent adjustments using computer. The porous figure
designed to positively place the large-scale building in the ran-
dom context invokes a sense of continuity and surprise as if
wandering around a village. This resulted in the creation of rich
spaces and enhanced the presence as a whole (Figure 9-11).
2. Findings from research
Before planning, we conducted research on the use of the
existing facilities and other music colleges, which provided
some useful findings.
For example, the size of each lesson room in the existing
buildings was a part of the valuable education system that had
been engendered throughout the history of Toho Gakuen as a
result of intermittent renovation of the school buildings.2 By
simply mentioning the room number, all school officials imme-
diately knew the role of the room and the type of space it pro-
vided. In addition, it seemed necessary to have a comfortable
space for the students, especially those who stay at the school
for long periods of time due to lessons.
YAMANASHI et al.
Figure 15. BIM model. The heterogeneous grid was derived by three-dimensional feedback using BIM. This process raises an alternative to the tra-
ditional design method using grid lines which in some cases leads to mediocre spatial experiences. This method is a system to generate rich spaces
satisfying both needs of continuity and unexpectancy
Surprisingly, the students were more conscious than
expected about making eye-contact with other players, seeing
others, and being seen. They wanted to practice in relatively
open spaces rather than in enclosed lesson rooms.
Furthermore, despite the prohibition of playing is spaces
other than the lesson rooms, the students sometimes played in
a stairway hall or looked for a favorite lesson room. We found
that the students looked for their favorite sound in the school,
and such findings provided details for the design (Figures 12
and 13).
3. Layering and adjusting the different uneven grids
On the second floor and the underground floor, the 200-
400 mm reinforced concrete walls constitute the uneven grids;
250 mm square reinforced concrete pillars that use 9-mm-thick
square steel tubes for permanent formwork and protection are
employed on the first floor. This not only retains the continuity
of structure but also creates a piloti-style space in the campus
for students to gather (Figure 14).
As for the design, the different uneven grids on the second
and underground floors were layered on BIM, and the pillars
were placed at the intersections while using the corridor width
as an adjustment allowance. Constant examination from eye-
level was performed to maximize the views from corridors and
windows.
As a result, the lesson rooms are ideally arranged on both
the second floor and the underground floor, while an open,
piloti-like space is created on the first floor. At the same
time, the corridor width in each part is slightly different,
which creates unique scenery in the interior space
(Figure 15).1
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar3
4. Project data
Main structure: Reinforced concreate (RC) structure
Site area: 3305.22 m2
Building area: 1942.89 m2
Gross floor area: 5828.91 m2
Completion: March 2014
Location: Chohu-shi, Tokyo
Construction company: SHIMIZU CORPORATION
Disclosure
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
References
1 Yamanashi T, Hatori T, Sasayama Y, Ishihara Y, SHIN-KENCHIKU. 2014,
vol. 89, no. 9, pp. 96,101 (in Japanese).
2 Yamanashi T, Hatori T, Sasayama Y, Ishihara Y, GA JAPAN. 2014. no. 127,
pp. 118 (in Japanese).
How to cite this article: Yamanashi T, Hatori T,
Sasayama Y, Ishihara Y. Chofu campus of the Toho
Gakuen School of Music. Jpn Archit Rev. 2018;1:24–28.
https://doi.org/10.1002/2475-8876.12025
*Figures 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14 are not covered by the terms of
the Creative Commons license of this publication. For permission to
reuse, please contact the rights holder.
Jpn Archit Rev | January 2018 | vol. 1 | no. 1 | 28