This is a university specializing in studies of health care and welfare, integrating an established two-year university with a new four-year university. The surroundings are emerging residential neighborhoods and rice paddies. Here the concept was not to organize the design by academic department, but rather encourage the development of an integrated network. The ground level gathers facilities for experiments and practical training, while an open deck is placed directly above. Light courts are set into the deck for illumination, closely resembling the underground dwellings of China, and sequences of lane-like spaces appear. The four-year and two-year universities are arranged in separate buildings, with the deck sandwiched between the two. The first level of each slab is continuous with the ground-level layer of experiment and training rooms, while lecture halls are on the second level, and research labs are on the third and fourth floors.
		Saitama Prefectural University (1995-1999) location: Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture principal use: university site area: 102,265.37m2 building area: 34,030.77m2 total floor area: 54,080.11m2 structure: steel framed reinforced concrete, reinforced concrete, precast concrete, and steel frame; 4 stories maximum height: 18,230mm architects: Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop associate architects: ISSO Atelier structural engineers: Takumi Orimoto Structural Engineer & Associates, Plus One Structural Des. & Eng. Firm mechanical engineers: Sogo Consultants landscape designers: Sowa Civil Engineering furniture and sign producers: A works furniture designers: Yasuo Kondo Design Office, Leading Edge Design sign designers: Hiromura Design Office acoustic designers: Nagata Acoustics textile designers: Taguchi Design Office lighting design collaborators: Lighting Planners Associates landscape design collaborators: studio on site artwork designers: Miho Akioka, Charles Ross, Zenji Funabashi, Fong Zhenning, Tatsuo Miyajima, Kikuma Mochizuki general contractors: JV of Obayashi, JDC Corporation, Kabuki Construction and UDK JV of Shimizu, Oki and Shoei JV of Tokyu, Wako and Kawaguchi Construction JV of Mitsui, Mitsuwa and Matsunaga JV of Takamoto, Sumida and Nojiri completion date: January, 1999 next back top