Jimbocho Theater Building

In Jimbocho, otherwise known as the “Town of Used Book Stores”, theaters and playhouses existed before the war and it was also known as the “Town of Theaters”. In this project, Shogakukan and Yoshimoto Kogyo collaborated to bring the liveliness of theaters and playhouses back to Jimbocho. The building site is 300m2, which is surrounded by narrow streets, and the project required 100 seating for the Movie Theater, 126 seating for the Variety Theater, common space for each facility, and 300m2 of Entertainment School and Lesson Rooms, for all to coexist.
The premise is surrounded by small scaled office buildings, the shape of which has been restricted due to the limitations from the facing streets, cluttering the view of the town. If based on the standard laws and regulations, this premise would not have been capable of accommodating even half of the requirements on the ground level. But by emitting the idea of a well-proportioned façade, the Sky Factor allowed for an increase of 100m2 total floor area and secured a well-regulated theater, as well as an increase in the number of seats. The multi-sided form that emerged from the Sky Factor gave the shape a power, a toughness of what the town holds, as if to diffuse the convergence shape and the déjàvu the setback regulation has created.

The inner space consists of a theater in the basement under the management of Shogakukan (Movie Theater), Yoshimoto Kagetsu on the 2-3F under the management of Yoshimoto Kogyou (Variety Theater), and entrance hall and a waiting space for both theaters on the 1F. The standard regulation requires for comfortable rooms to be located on the same floor as the theater, but by locating them on the 1st floor, it allows for the maximization of both theaters. Also, by creating a common area for both Movie Theater and Variety Theater which usually does not come together in the same space, creates an opportunity for new possibilities. 4F and 5F are Yoshimoto Entertainment lesson rooms, and the 6F is a management office.

The external facing consist of minimal thickness of RC for acoustic control which forms the multi-sided shape. 4.5mm thick clad steel plate layers on top the RC, which is the minimum thickness possible both construction and structure-wise, however this also acts as a shear wall. The clad steel plate has been fixed on the external facings with no order (rather wildly), and with a gap in between the RC which acts as a drain gutter as well as tolerance for any structural margin of error. Therefore this is not a monocoque construction which requires precision, and restrictions due to inward stress.

This building is to promote development of growing entertainers as well as theater and playhouse. The materials that left the evidences of craftsmen struggling with the space and materials seemed most appropriate for a space that fosters entertainers in the making who are going to be facing the harsh reality of the entertainment world. Therefore the steel plates are not retouched; a trace of hand painted roller is left as a mark. Because the outside insulation was possible by filling up the thermal insulator between the gap of the RC and the panel sheets, the inside of the buildings are exposed RC, which are also left raw and unpolished. The unfinished concrete walls provide thermal storage and humidity control for the young comedians who go through long hours of hard training through day and night.

The aura of the theater created by the raw materials that are formed by human hand complies with the main goal of this project: The revival of the theater culture in the “Town of Used Book Stores”.

Photograph by: Harunori Noda