- Location
- Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
- Interior
- Atsushi Tasaki Architecture and Design
- Construction
- Studio8
- Photography
- Gottingham
The design of the hair salon, by Atsushi Tasaki Architecture and Design, is located in a shopping district near Kugenuma Kaigan Station in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The salon was designed to occupy the first floor of a newly built building by a major home builder. The building's exterior is composed of siding and aluminium sash, an efficient construction common in Japan, and familiar to people who grew up in the suburbs.
The client's only requests were to ensure the necessary number of seats were available, and to make it look unlike a typical beauty salon. Since a narrow entryway leads into a wide room, there was limited freedom with approaching the floor plan, since installing the necessary facilities naturally fills most of the space.
Atsushi Tasaki produced a design that deviates from the expected affordances in use and scale, with LGS-covered walls and movable tables with electrical outlets, stools made of tiles that protrude from the floor and match the floor's tile joints, lighting that doubles as a hanger rack, and so on.
While the overall tone tended towards the building's exterior, the use of polycarbonate created a subtle sense of contrast, while successive linear light fixtures guided the onlooker's gaze from the street, piquing interest in the salon and evoking a slight sense of curiosity.