British architectural photographer Marc Goodwin has gone behind the scenes to capture 16 architecture workspaces in Japan.
The project by Goodwin – who is the founder of photography studio Archmospheres – forms part of his latest photography series that documents architecture workspaces, most recently spanning Taiwan, Vienna and Munich.
Focusing on “young, non-traditional studios” in Japan, the latest series features workspaces of various scales and settings – ranging from spacious warehouses and offices to smaller-scale workshops and residences.
Among the studios featured are Kengo Kuma & Associates, Akihisa Hirata and Tato Architects.
Goodwin collaborated with architect Samuel Michaëlsson for the series, which complements Michaëlsson’s existing collection of interviews with the same architects similarly featured in this photography series.
According to Goodwin, the studio spaces across Japan varied greatly from those featured in his previous series, with the studios and projects different from any that he has previously encountered.
“The atmosphere of these offices was a great surprise, in a good way,” Goodwin told Dezeen.
“I was expecting a corporate but highly professional work environment,” he added. “Instead what I got was an ever-surprising, and often transitional-feeling set of adapted spaces that defied truisms of the basic needs of an office.”
“It often felt more like the continuation of design studios at architecture school rather than the office environment one often encounters when starting practice at a firm.”
Read on for a look inside 16 architecture studios across Japan:
Kengo Kuma & Associates
Number of members of staff: 300+ in Tokyo
Akihisa Hirata
Number of members of staff: 21
Size: 323 square metres
Building’s history: Office and residential
Atelier Fujimori
In this space since: 2017
Number of members of staff: 1
Size: 815 square metres
Building’s history: Residential
DDAA Inc
In this space since: 2015
Number of members of staff: 15
Size: 197 square metres
Building’s history: Garage
Atelier Tenjinyama / Ikimono Architects
In this space since: 2011
Number of members of staff: 5
Size: 62 square metres
BASE
In this space since: 2020
Number of members of staff: 14
Size: 282 square metres
Building’s history: Office and residential
Fuminori Nousaku / Mio Tsuneyama
In this space since: 2017
Number of members of staff: 4
Size: 150 square metres
Building’s history: Residential
Ondesign Partners
In this space since: 2017
Number of members of staff: 30 (+25 remote staff)
Size: 380 square metres
Building’s history: Office
Tato Architects
In this space since: 2014
Number of members of staff: 9
Size: 45 square metres
Tezuka Architects
In this space since: 2005
Number of members of staff: 20
Nori Architects
In this space since: 2021
Number of members of staff: 6
Size: 45 square metres
Building’s history: Office and residential
Korogaro Association / Kengo Sato Architecture Office
In this space since: 2020
Number of members of staff: 3
Size: 120 square metres
Building’s history: Residential
Tomito Architecture
In this space since: 2020
Number of members of staff: 8
Size: 65 square metres
Building’s history: Office and residential
Noiz
Number of members of staff: 18
Dot Architects
In this space since: 2009
Number of members of staff: 20
Size: 750 square metres
Building’s history: Furniture factory
Tsubame Architects
In this space since: 2022
Number of members of staff: 12
Size: 136 square metres
