Articles by Miwa Negoro

Aqqu Central Café is an architectural regeneration project that restores a legendary landmark of Almaty from the 1960s. The name Aqqu translates from Kazakh as White Swan, which historically refers to the pair of live swans that lived in the adjacent ponds, making this site a cultural icon for the city. The design is entirely dedicated to restoring the city’s visual memory through a modern interpretation of 1960s modernism. The conceptual starting point for the project was a vibrant swan mosaic created by local artist Anastasia Zharko. Its bright palette of blue, yellow, red, and burgundy served as the foundation for every color selection throughout the interior.

Floating above the ground of Dapo Pond in Taitung, a public space of a metal “lotus garden” creates a sanctuary for cyclists traversing Taiwan’s East Rift Valley. Designed by Studio APL and Lin Ko-Fang Architects, the Tie-Ma Cycling Station reimagines the infrastructure of rest. Stones discovered during foundation excavation were transformed into breathable gabion walls and shaped steel into organic canopies; the project dissolves the boundary between the bicycle station and the wetland ecosystem. Currently in its first completed phase, this resilient landscape architecture acts not as a barrier, but as a porous interface connecting the local community with the rhythms of the water.

“The very first artwork we encounter in life is a toy.” Maum Studio has created a play space filled entirely with wooden toys: Tokyo Toy Museum Seoul. Since its opening in 1984, the Tokyo Toy Museum has operated 14 branches across Japan, and now its story continues here in Seoul.

“The very first artwork we encounter in life is a toy.” Maum Studio has created a play space filled entirely with wooden toys: Tokyo Toy Museum Seoul. Since its opening in 1984, the Tokyo Toy Museum has operated 14 branches across Japan, and now its story continues here in Seoul.

The interior design of an Eyewear Store located in Ashiya, Hyogo, Ashiya Optical Store. The owner had a deep interest in architecture and design, and sought a place that was not based on conventional planning, focused simply on selling products, but one in which scenes of customer service and the displayed eyewear could be regarded as part of the space itself.

Flanked by the sea on one end of the site, Eventide Coffee is truly and well blessed by abundant eastern light. Uninterrupted views and the constant presence of the sea become the quiet narrators of the space, shaping what is both a passion project and a place of pause. The café emerges as an intuitive response to site, climate, and context. “From the beginning, the brief was never about creating a statement café,” the architects share, “It was about facilitating calm, something that felt natural to the place and its people.”

Located in Kofu City, this facility offers three distinct services: consultation for disadvantaged families and children within the community, medical counseling, and staff training. These three functions are performed separately in three buildings: the Center Building consists of consultation rooms and administrative offices and serves as an operational hub overseeing the entire facility; the Clinic Building is where medical counseling is provided, and the Training Building is dedicated to professional training for all staff members of the organization managing the center. The construction was carried out in two phases. In Phase 1, the Center Building and the Clinic Building were completed in 2021. In Phase 2, the Training Building was completed in 2022.

Set within a coastal bushland landscape, Ironbark House forms a retreat from the complexities of contemporary life. The clients’ aspirations focused on connectivity for their busy family of five and a relationship to the landscape. The architecture is intended to assimilate into the landscape’s strong presence, the large span openings, and ‘as local as possible’ materials form this strong connection.

This house is built on a site along a bank in Toyama City overlooking the Tateyama mountain range.