Articles by Miwa Negoro

Located at the heart of the commercial business district (CBD) in Lixia District, Jinan City, Shandong Province, China, this 62-story, 360-meter-tall skyscraper with a total floor area of 226,000 square meters was conceived as a landmark symbolizing Shandong’s economic dynamism. The CBD features five super high-rise buildings symbolizing “mountains, springs, lakes, rivers, and cities.” This projectーdeveloped by Ping An Real Estateーembodys the “river” theme. The site lies east of Ribbon Park, the CBD’s primary public space, and is adjacent to the major district thoroughfare, offering a prime location that combines lush green scenery with excellent transportation connectivity. Nikken Sekkei was responsible for the interior design of the Grand Lobby, Sky Lobby, and standard office floors.

At first glance, the residential villa presents itself in continuity with the familiar typology of pitched-roof villas, aligning its overall silhouette with a well-known and recognizable architectural language. This deliberate choice allows the building to remain visually and conceptually connected to its surrounding context and to the conventional expectations associated with this type of dwelling. However, the project does not settle for mere repetition of an established model; instead, it seeks to extract new spatial possibilities from within this familiar framework. The approach is not based on rejecting the typology, but rather on reinterpreting and transforming it to generate a renewed architectural reading.

The building started its growth from the central core, which was a meeting place for common living between nature, building, and people. This construction never caused nature and building to create a border for each other; only the borders in the east and west were created, not to separate from nature but to stay in nature, the borders dictated by the climate.

A residence shaped by human sensibility, negotiating its surroundings through ongoing dialogue across scales—from city and architecture to materials and daily movements.

Ramand is, before being a project, a decision—a decision about how a cube can stand on a dual-cornered site without compromising its own geometry and without disregarding the city. The wooden volume is a controlled rotation, neither a formal gesture nor an exaggeration; merely the minimal deviation required for the form to settle into the site. Its geometry does not impose itself on the city, but aligns with it. The wooden skin is not an emotional choice, but a means to soften the hard cube. In a site surrounded by schools, the wood transforms potential seriousness into a conversational tone, aware of the daily gaze of children building their spatial memory.

This is a private house in Jakarta, Indonesia, for a dentist couple with 2 kids. The site is a typical rectangular shape, with both sides and the rear of the house closed off from the neighboring houses, and no ventilation or sunlight can be expected from the side openings. The front façade faces neighboring houses. Despite these challenges, homeowners desire a home that feels open and lush with greenery.

The design and construction of a project on a steeply sloped terrain in Shandiz, adjacent to a seasonal river, with mandatory boundary consideration and a weekend villa program, was assigned to the Abar office. According to regulations, the project was permitted to construct two stories above ground and one basement level. This perpetual regulation has led to repetitive typologies that, on one hand, due to the relentless villa development in the region (in a situation similar to apartment typology), obstruct the view of the valley and distort the natural landscape, and on the other hand, result in stereotypical programs that sometimes have no connection to the user’s lifestyle and creating “possibilities” in their experience. Despite having previously prepared complete plans, the client requested a redesign due to unmet needs; a matter we analyzed as the “Difference between In-Town and Out-of-Town Housing”.

The project is situated on a 5×20 meter plot at the intersection of two narrow alleys—an uncommon condition within the typical urban tube-house fabric. The advantage of having two open façades allows for effective use of natural light and ventilation, while simultaneously requiring careful control of sightlines to ensure privacy. In an increasingly dense urban context, where land becomes scarce and buildings press tightly against one another, daily life is often compressed within enclosed volumes. The house is therefore not merely a shelter, but a space that creates openings for people to truly breathe. From this perspective, the “void” became the central concept shaping The Gap House.

The project is situated on a 5×20 meter plot at the intersection of two narrow alleys—an uncommon condition within the typical urban tube-house fabric. The advantage of having two open façades allows for effective use of natural light and ventilation, while simultaneously requiring careful control of sightlines to ensure privacy. In an increasingly dense urban context, where land becomes scarce and buildings press tightly against one another, daily life is often compressed within enclosed volumes. The house is therefore not merely a shelter, but a space that creates openings for people to truly breathe. From this perspective, the “void” became the central concept shaping The Gap House.