Hello! I’m Yuki Tanaka. This time, I will introduce a gateway to Japan, an airport, by focusing on architecture.
When it comes to “architecture” it is often thought as a field, which you have to make difficult face and think with your arms crossed. I hope I can tell architecture not complicatedly but intelligibly.
It is my pleasure if my introduction of architecture leads to the encounters with wonderful buildings or new discoveries.
When visiting a country, there is a place where you step in and feel the country at first. That is an international airport.
Many dramas of encounters and farewell are set everyday.
The reason why various feelings run when arriving and departing a country may be that the architecture of an airport itself has a power that appeal to people’s feelings.
The very first place to arrive in Japan
This time it is about “Haneda Airport International Passenger Terminal”.
Haneda Airport is a gateway to Japan as great as Narita Airport now.
The international terminal has opened in 2010.
This building, which opens 24 hours and many foreign people visit, is full of gimmicks that tell charm of Japan.
Moreover, when focusing on architecture, technique that enables people to have comfortable time, regardless of race and nationality is hidden inside this building.
Huge space that used natural scenery of Japan as a subject
The large roof covering the whole airport. The curve of this roof expresses the gentle ridge of Mount Fuji. In addition, the roof inside that you see when looking up in the building expresses cirrus clouds lying in a row.
Sunshine lights the spacious and large airport from the gaps between the cirrus clouds.
These windows set in the roof reduce lighting energy by natural lighting.
The large roof built for this building had gimmicks to express nature scenery of Japan and provide saving energy.
On the other hand, when you look down, cobalt blue colored floor reflects sunshine gently.
This expresses the calm sea projecting the blue sky.
The large space, which is given a meanings of “sky and sea” with the structure of the roof and the material of the floor.
In this place, where many customers check-in for abroad, the power of building makes people feel more excited before departure.
Comfortable environment and safety, protected by pillars
The large pillars set 18 meters apart support the roof.
Pillars are indispensable as supporting structure. However, it is better to have fewer pillars for creating space with widely opened field of view.
In order to support the large roof, by reducing the pillars while considering the needed strength, pillars were built at intervals of 18 meters, which is the biggest in Japan.
If you carefully look at the pillar, there is a strange box.
There is a sprinkler that works in fire emergency hidden in this box.
It detects the flame and appears from this box. It shoots water like hose of fire truck.
Speaking of sprinkler, typical one is the type that water pour from ceiling like shower.
However, the power of water lack in a large space like airport. Therefore, it uses a type that can splash water a long distance with high pressure.
When focusing on architecture, facility that guards people’s life in case was hidden.
Edo townscape that revives in Haneda Airport
When you go up from the departure lobby, there is re-created Edo townscape.
The stores that make people who visit the airport feel more excited line up at the shopping area named “Edo-Koji”(Koji means “alley” in Japanese).
Nakamura Sotoji Komuten, representative Sukiya architecture carpenter of Japan, built this whole space.
Yoshiaki Nakamura, the second generation participated in building “Edo-Koji” tell as bellow.
This terminal is a place to feel Japan first for foreign people who visit Japan for the first time.
To judge what you felt without any prior knowledge. I call it ‘Innocence of childhood’. I wanted to create something that lets feel ‘Japan is wonderful.’ when it is seen by those people.
This space is focusing on “genuine”, using plenty of wood and finishing the wall by plasterer. You can shop while enjoying the good old townscape of Japan.
Thanks to fireproof wood, it enabled to use real wood to build large building like this.
In the back of Edo-Koji, there is “Haneda Nihonbashi” (Nihonbashi means “Japan Bridge” in Japanese) made of cypress.
The appearance that cirrus clouds hang over the large bridge in the shape of Nihonbashi is very impressive.
Night in winter, beautifully decorated departure lobby
Every year in the wintertime, about the time when sun goes down, the large roof is illuminated colorfully.
Even if there is a long waiting time, it entertains us with the fantastic appearance, which is different from the daytime.
At the same time, illuminations are held.
The illuminations using bamboo sent from Kyoto will raise uplifting feeling of when visiting an airport even more.
The glass tube illuminated with faint light.
In this tube called “Air Breeze Tower”, the air of air conditioning rise up from the bottom.
This tube itself becoming warm in winter and cold in summer enables to maintain the surrounding temperature comfortable.
By expelling the air of air conditioning from the top of the glass tube, it is arranging the temperature environment near the entrance where it is easily affected by fresh air.
Personally, I really like this signboard.
The surface of the board is slightly in jade green. I felt that the design, which does not show the shades of lighting equipment inside at all, is stylish.
For smooth check-in
Check-in counter called island type is set at regular intervals like small isolated islands.
Between each islands, spacious space is secured.
It is designed with feeling that customers who carry a cart and people who use wheelchair can move without stress.
So that everyone can use in relief
There is a toilet for assistance dog in the 1st floor of the terminal.
This is the first toilet for assistance dog in domestic airport. Inside is very spacious and it is designed to set a space to clean up excrement of assistance dog.
Assistance dog is now a common existence as a partner, which gets close to people with disability.
To the toilet for such assistance dog, the concept of universal design so that everyone can use in relief was accepted.
Haneda Airport welcome and send off many people everyday.
It was architecture full of wishes and wisdom hoping people to spend comfortable time and their memories in Japan to be wonderful.
Not only human beings. This international airport, which is the gateway to Japan, has a function that is even friendly to assistance dog.
Race, nationality, and species do not matter. There was “architecture for everyone”.