N Building, Tachikawa-shi Architecture, Tokyo QR Code Facade Project Photos, Japanese Design

N Building Tokyo, Japan

Commercial Development Project in Tachikawa-shi design by TERADADESIGN ARCHITECTS

12 Mar 2010

N Building Tokyo

Location: near Tachikawa station, Tokyo, Japan

Architects: TERADADESIGN ARCHITECTS

N Building is a commercial structure located near Tachikawa station amidst a shopping district. Being a commercial building signs or billboards are typically attached to its facade which we feel undermines the structures’ identity.

As a solution TERADADESIGN ARCHITECTS thought to use a QR Code as the facade itself. By reading the QR Code with your mobile device you will be taken to a site which includes up to date shop information. In this manner we envision a cityscape unhindered by ubiquitous signage and also an improvement to the quality and accuracy of the information itself.

photos : Yuki OMORI

December 15th, 2009 we held an opening which included the limited release of an iPhone application made specifically for N Building. If a QR Code is static, what could we do with a dynamic device like the iPhone?

This proposed vision of the future is one where the facade of the building disappears, showing those inside who want to be seen. As you press on the characters their comments made on online appear in speech bubbles. You can also browse shop information, make reservations and download coupons.

Rather than broadly tagging, we display information specific to the building in a manner in which the virtual (iPhone) serves to enhance the physical (N Building). Our goal is to provide an incentive to visit the space and a virtual connection to space without necessarily being present.

A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is derived from “Quick Response”, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

QR Codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes. Moreover, most current Japanese mobile phones can read this code with their camera. (from Wikipedia)

photos: Alexander Reeder, Qosmo, Inc.

The building is detected in real time by its shape (for an example, see video). Characters are then superimposed over the live video. Twitter feed comments are located via GPS tagging. Store information, reservations and other infrastructure is part of the iPhone application.

The iPhone application is not for sale in the iTunes App Store, but is available to interested parties on request. While N Building’s QR code provides a subtle yet important queue to users to take out and use their mobile devices, Qosmo, Inc. is available to implement a similar system for structures without QR Codes.

N Building Tokyo – Building Information

Architecture: TERADADESIGN ARCHITECTS (Terada Naoki, Hirate Kenichi)
Media Architecture: Qosmo, Inc. (Alexander Reeder, Tokui Nao, Sawai Taeji)
Lighting: Izumi Okayasu Lighting Design (Okayasu Izumi)
Construction: KOBO (Narita Akimasa, Yoshikoshi Seiichiro, Nunoyama Hitoshi)
Music: sometimes by airtone

Location: 2-1-26, Nishiki-cho, Tachikawa-shi
Site area: 268m2
Built area: 227.29m2
Total floor area: 1046.99m2
Floors: 5 floors
Floor height: 1F 4.6m / 2F-5F 4.0m
Total height: 22.8m

N Building Tokyo images / information from TERADADESIGN ARCHITECTS

Location: 2-1-26, Nishiki-cho, Tachikawa-shi, Tokyo, Japan, eastern Asia