AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.03.2003, Síða 28

Yrki, Architects
The Embassy of
lceland in Tokyo
ln the autumn of 2000, the State of
lceland bought a four-storey house
in Tokyo, the capital of Japan.
Potential locations had been con-
sidered for some time, which could
house both the offices of a new
embassy and accommodations for
the ambassador. The purchased
house is in the Takanawa-district,
where other embassies are located.
It was obvious from the start that
alterations to the interior were
needed in order to accommodate
the embassy’s intended functions.
The house at that time consisted of
three large flats, with a smaller flat
and storage located in the base-
ment. The interior itself was rather
old and in need of renovation. The
garden around the house is small,
but as the roof of the building is
flat, the idea was soon put forward
to use it as a roof garden.
Yrki architects were asked to
supervise the design. During the
design stage, close cooperation
took place between the architects
and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
which was in charge of the brief,
and the Government Construction
Contracting Agency, which was in
charge of project management. A
Japanese contractor was employed
to carry out the work involved. The
design and construction pro-
gressed rapidly and was finished
only 10 months after work began.
The offices of the Embassy are situ-
ated on the ground floor, compriing
the offices of the ambassador,
attaché, secretary and other
employees, meeting and reception
areas.
On the first floor are reception
areas, a dining area and kitchen
along with wine and food storage.
There are also accommodations for
guests of the ambassador. On the
third floor are the private accom-
modations of the ambassador.
The main design objective was to
create a simple, timeless, quality
environment. The house was built
during the eighties in a generic
European style and could fit nicely
anywhere in central Europe.
External walls are
clad in brick, while roof-gutters and
overhang of the main entrance are
clad in copper. Exterior corners are
rounded and the same applies to
some interior walls. This theme is
repeated in the new interior and at
the same time it was decided to
keep the dominant material and
colour scheme. As all wood indoors
is dark teak, it was decided to
continue using this wood. New
timber floors are made of dark mer-
bau wood and timber walls, and
interior with teak veneer. All other
walls are painted in light colours
with light
coloured tiles in the bathrooms.
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