SENDAI

MEDIATHEQUE 1

Running Head: Sendai Mediathéque

Architectural History & Theory III

Esma Nur Demir

Abdullah Gul University

Figure 1 Air View of Sendai Mediathéque

Author Note

Esma Nur Demir, Department of Architecture, Abdullah Gul University

Contact: esmanur.demir@agu.edu.tr
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CONTENT

SENDAI MEDIATHEQUE ...................................................................................................... 3

Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3
The Competition ................................................................................................................. 3
Design Process ................................................................................................................... 4
Function of Building ........................................................................................................... 7
The Work of Toyo Ito .......................................................................................................... 8
The Architects that Ito Inspired ........................................................................................ 10
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 10



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SENDAI MEDIATHEQUE

Introduction

Sendai Mediathéque is a media library built in the center of Sendai, Japan in 2001. It

is the result of an international design competition, which was held in 1994. Toyo Ito was the

architect who took first place in the competition (Maffei, 2011). The building has several

functions such as library, galleries for exhibitions and multimedia spaces. Its design consists

of three main parts, exterior skin, columns and floor plates. Ito designed floor plates as an

open plan, which allows various uses. Its unique structural system is the result of

technological creativity. 13 reticular truss-like tubular columns are the only structural

elements of Sendai Mediatheque. These columns are also used as elevators, stairs,

mechanical equipment and natural light shafts. Ito’s main goal was to design a building as

transparent as possible to become a part of the city and to be perceived from many

angles(Sakamoto, 2003). As a result of this idea exterior skins are completely transparent,

which also allows interaction between the city and the interior of the building. The unique

and uncommon use of columns was the primary reason for me to choose Sendai

Mediathéque. Because unlike other structures Sendai Mediathéque allows the whole

structure to interact with the city and to be a part of it. It is also totally transparent, which

changes the general idea of buildings in our mind and gives a new impulse to architecture

(Maffei, 2011).

The Competition
Sendai, in other words City of Trees, is located in the North of Japan, about two hours by

train from Tokyo, Japan. Population of city is one million. The Matsushima Bay, the

Itsukushima Shrine and Amanohashidate are some of the significant places that Sendai is

known for (“About Sendai”, 2016). However, the World learned about Sendai after architect
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Toyo Ito’s most

representative work,

Sendai Mediathéque

(2001). In 1994, an

international

architectural
Figure 2 Air view.

competition was held to design a new media library for the city of Sendai. The site was in the

center of city, in a prominent location, near the main streets, local governmental buildings and

Kotodai Park. Required functions were multimedia spaces, a library and galleries for

exhibitions. Jury members were Minoru Kanno, Terunubu Fujimori, Yoshio Tsukio and

Katsuhiro Yamaguti. On 22 March 1995, in the first stage, among 235 design proposals Toyo

Ito’s idea was selected with two others; Ito’s proposal took first place in the second stage. The

basic idea of design was a large volume of glass, with a square plan of 50x50 meters and

height of 37 meters (Maffei, 2011).

Design Process
The building consists from three main

parts: six linear planes, thirteen reticular

columns and an external skin. These

three-main elements work together and

Sendai Mediathéque becomes one of the

important example of simplicity in

Figure 3 3D model of Sendai Mediatheque architecture.

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The first part is plates,

which divide whole building to

seven levels. The plates are

made from alveolar concrete

slabs and designed to be as thin

as possible to tone in the idea of

transparency that whole

building has. And each floor,

has a different height based on

its function. According to their

use, each floor also has different

Figure 4 Ito’s diagrams for the design of each floor

furniture, surface treatment, and lighting. Furthermore, design of each plate was given to

different designers from around the world. The entrance of Sendai Mediathéque has the

greater height, acts as a large lobby space, to allow permeability and full accessibility from

anywhere in the street. Predominantly, while service places are put on the north facade, south

facade is left completely open to allow to be perceived from the street. In the plates housing

the galleries, the walls are moveable, which creates completely open areas.

The second and the most representative part

of building is the 13 organic shaped high

technology reticular columns. For tubular

columns Ito worked with Mutsuro Sasaki, who

was responsible for the structural calculations

and design. They designed columns, which get

Figure 4 Main entrance hall
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sun light from top and transfer

the natural light to down part of

building as a result of

computerized systems of rotating

mirrors. The width of columns

differentiates from 2 to 9 meters.

Four columns designed to resist

Figure 6 Sketch of the planimetric distribution earthquakes have largest

diameters and reinforced

concrete bases. They are located in the corners of the building. The other nine reticular columns

are positioned to carry just vertical loads. The hollow steel elements inside each column house

elevators, ducted air conditioning and power shafts.

Figure 7 Longitudinal section

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Figure 8 Views of Mediatheque at night

The last element of building is the glass skin. The building’s completely transparent south

facade which looks towards to main street allows interaction between inside and outside of

the building. As you can see from the picture above (Figure 8) during the night, the glass skin

completely vanishes and the inside of building becomes visible from all elevations. And

during the day, the facade reflects the sunlight and remains transparent, creating a

translucent filter between the inside and outside. This was Ito’s main idea when he started

this project: creating completely transparent facades.

Function of Building

Design of Sendai Mediathéque corresponds with sustainability in many ways. It is very

energy efficient. During the construction Ito preferred to use prefabricated materials, which

lowered the cost of the project(“Sendai Mediathéque”, N.D). For glass skin doubled panel
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and shaded glasses are used to prevent

and reduce the heat gain. To take

advantage of sun, photovoltaic panels are

located on roof, which decreases energy

cost. The building uses daylight efficiently.

Transparent facades and the reticular

Figure 9 Natural ventilation diagram
columns which transmit sunlight down use

computerized rotating mirrors. During

the summer glass skin opens and creates

natural ventilation for whole building

(Sakamoto, 2003). The HVAC systems are

located to the roof and basement, which

provides energy transfer from top to

bottom and bottom to top. Also, reticular

Figure 10 Sunlight and exterior skin
columns take air from top and transfer it

to bottom like wind catcher. By this, Sendai Mediathéque uses less energy in air

conditioning systems (Ito,1999).

The Work of Toyo Ito

The work of Toyo Ito is complex as much as Japanese world. It is hard to say that it has single

line or idea that he has followed throughout his architecture carrier which he started at

Kiyonori Kikutake & Associates after he graduated from Tokyo University’s Department of

Architecture in 1965. In 1971 he opened his very first studio in Tokyo named Urban Robot

which changed to Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects in 1979 (“Biography of”, 2013). Ito’s

architectural carrier can split into two main phases. First phase is the phase that he mostly
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designed residential buildings including his work for his musicologist sister the White U

(1974) and his own house the Silver Hut (1984). These buildings open the way for him to

design his first public commissions and large-scale projects (Cohen, 2012).

Figure 12 The Silver Hut

Figure 5 The White U

Unlike of European cities Japanese cities do not have any precise point of reference. Urban

Characteristics are ever changing and neutral, structure is always in process of demolition

and construction. Because of this even in 20 years, the whole image of city can be changed.

The only thing always remain same is communication and transportation system. As a result

of Japanese neutral and fragmentary architecture, Ito developed the idea of an ephemeral

architecture to reflect these metropolitan non-contexts. Ito starts his work by objective

analysis of Japanese society, then comes up with a solution which are generally light and

elegant interpretation to existing non-contextual architecture unlike to the Tadao Ando’s

and Arata Isozaki’s transgressive and provocative action to the Japanese (Maffei, 2011).

Because of neutrality, Ito’s design proposals are not complete and definite solutions, just as
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a moment of transition in process. In time other, it can be modified and other architectural

solutions can be applied to his works. In 2009, the lecture at Princeton University Ito

expressed his thoughts of architecture: “The natural world is extremely complicated and

variable, and its systems are fluid – it is built on a fluid world. In contrast to this, architecture

has always tried to establish a more stable system. To be very simplistic, one could say that

the system of the grid was established in the twentieth century. This system became popular

throughout the world, as it allowed a huge amount of architecture to be built in a short

period of time.” (“Biography of”, 2013).

The Architects that Ito Inspired

Le Corbusier and Mies Van der Rohe are the architects that Ito is influenced mostly. By

making radical reinterpretation to Corbusier’s free plan Ito designed Sendai Mediathéque.

The elevations and floors have different functions. During the façade vanishes and bring Ito’s

vision about building as an aquarium of liquid space and becomes part of the city (Weston,

2015). Re-examining Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion (1929), Ito saw its

Modernist spatial flow as ‘not the lightness of flowing air but the thickness of molten liquid’.

Ito adopt this idea of liquid space and it seemed to him perfect way of supporting space of

modern cities. So, in first conceptual drawing so Columns of Sendai Mediathéque he drew

concrete pillars of Modernist Architecture. After working with Matsuro Sasaki it changed to

swaying steel tubes which have both function of supporting and services (Weston, 2015).

Conclusion

To sum up, Sendai Mediathéque, one of the most significant projects of late 20th century

because of its structural innovation and functional versatility. It received the Royal Gold

Medal in 2006 by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Sendai Mediathéque is
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accepted as a mile stone architecture because it is captured and applied nature of computer

world (which dominate 21st century) on architecture by designing steel tubular columns

instead of concrete pillars. At the same time as an architecture student I admire Toyo Ito

that he designed such a great work of sustainable architecture by himself. In these days,

Sendai Mediathéque is a symbol of city Sendai and it also makes city well known all around

world. It is simply symbolic meaning for city of Sendai.

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REFERENCE

About Sendai. (2016, June 16). Sendai Incentive Tours.

Retrieved from:

http://www.sentia-sendai.jp/incentive/en/about-sendai.php

Biography of Toyo Ito. (2013).The Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Retrieved from:

http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2013/jury-citation

Cohen, J.L.(2012). The Future of Architecture 1889. London, UK. Phodion Press.

Ito, T. (1999). Blurring Architecture. (pp. 101-103) (Ito,1999)

Maffei, A. (2001). Works, projects, writing; Toyo Ito. (pp: 9-13, 232-236.) Hong Kong.

Pollock, N.R. (2001, May). Architectural Record. (pp. 192-201)

Sakamoto, T. (2003, May). Sendai Mediathéque. (pp. 120). Barcelona: Actar.

Sendai Mediatheque: architecture and beyond.(N.D) SMT.

Retrieved from:

http://www.smt.jp/en/about/

Weston, R. (2015). Architecture Visioners. (pp: 250). London, UK.

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1:

Sakamoto, T. (2003, May). Sendai Mediathéque. (pp. 120). Barcelona: Actar.

Figure 2:

Maffei, A. (2001). Works, projects, writing; Toyo Ito. (pp: 9-13, 232-236.) Hong Kong.

Figure 3:

Maffei, A. (2001). Works, projects, writing; Toyo Ito. (pp: 9-13, 232-236.) Hong Kong.

Figure 4:

Maffei, A. (2001). Works, projects, writing; Toyo Ito. (pp: 9-13, 232-236.) Hong Kong.

Figure 5:

Maffei, A. (2001). Works, projects, writing; Toyo Ito. (pp: 9-13, 232-236.) Hong Kong.

Figure 6:

Maffei, A. (2001). Works, projects, writing; Toyo Ito. (pp: 9-13, 232-236.) Hong Kong.

Figure 7:

Maffei, A. (2001). Works, projects, writing; Toyo Ito. (pp: 9-13, 232-236.) Hong Kong.

Figure 8:

About Sendai. (2016, June 16). Sendai Incentive Tours.

Retrieved from:

http://www.sentia-sendai.jp/incentive/en/about-sendai.php

Figure 9:

Sakamoto, T. (2003, May). Sendai Mediathéque. (pp. 120). Barcelona: Actar.

Figure 10:

Sakamoto, T. (2003, May). Sendai Mediathéque. (pp. 120). Barcelona: Actar.

Figure 11:

Biography of Toyo Ito. (2013).The Pritzker Architecture Prize.

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Retrieved from:

http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2013/jury-citation

Figure 12:

Biography of Toyo Ito. (2013).The Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Retrieved from:

http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2013/jury-citation