A Whole New Level of Design

My inspiration for this week's blog came from an entry in the January 2011 edition of Interior Design. I was looking through the magazine and found a fantastic piece titled "Something to Sink Your Teeth Into." The article was a walk through of the GC Prostho research center and gallery located in Kasugai, Japan. The company manufactures dental prosthetics. The architecture firm, Kengo Kuma & Associates, needed to integrate both private and public function areas. They had to provide offices, laboratories and an exhibition space. The firm do not want big bulky columns but rather "a scale that is close to the human body's, that possesses the delicacy and strength of arms and legs." Here are some photos to help you understand the full impact of the space:

 The structure is made of cypress latticework and is delicately assembled in order to achieve the look they wanted. Kuma based his idea for this project on a traditional Japanese children's puzzle called cidori , which means one thousand birds. This idea of cidori took on a whole new meaning in this design and this magnificent structural system was created. I would say if I ever was into prosthetic research for teeth, I would definitely want to work in an environment that looked like this, wouldn't you?