This is an extension of the Future University Hakodate. While all kinds of activity take place in the open flexible atrium in the existing main college, this research building is a collection of small, specialized spaces for research activities. Within the university’s departments for media architecture and department for complex systems, research groups (clusters) are formed across the borders of various research areas; the clusters are re-formed every few years. To adapt to the re-formation of clusters, rooms face each other with a laboratory in between.
The main characteristic of the research building is a ‘lattice wall,’ which is a lozenge truss frame of flat bars set with cast glass or steel panels. The lattice wall is both the structure that supports the whole building and a partition wall system whose proportion of open area can be freely arranged. Each room’s relationship to other rooms can change with its wall. Moreover, the ‘lattice wall’ can be freely equipped with experimental devices or presentation boards, that is, it can function as furniture.
