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Rezvan Design
Atrium of Light
← Index002 · Cultural · Noon

Kyoto, Japan · 2023 · Daitoku-ji Foundation

Light Atrium of.

Location

Kyoto, Japan

Year

2023

Typology

Cultural

Status

Built

Area

3,850 m²

(i) · Brief

A meditation hall lit by a single oculus. The room is the instrument; the visitor is the note.

A meditation hall built within the precincts of an existing Rinzai Zen temple. The brief was disarmingly simple: a single room for fifty people, dignified enough for a teacher, quiet enough for breath.

We responded with a square chamber 14 metres across, walls of hand-applied Shikkui plaster, and a single circular oculus at the apex. Throughout the day the sun draws a slow ellipse across the floor · a silent timepiece.

Air enters at the perimeter through carved cedar grilles and rises through the oculus. There is no mechanical conditioning. The room cools itself by listening to the courtyard outside.

(i·b) · Concept ↔ Built

From the first line to the last stone.

Concept · Section A·A
Built · Plate I
Scale 1 : 200
Drag to compare
◀ ▶

Drawing N° 01 · Section A·A · 2023 · drag to reveal

(ii) · Solar Study · live

How the year moves across the façade.

Drawing · SOL · 01

Solar study

Latitude
35.00° N
Façade
180° (S)
Site
Kyoto, Japan
Season
Summer · day 172
Solar hour · 13:00
Altitude · 72.6°
Azimuth · 232.5°

Altitude

72.6°

Azimuth

232°

Incidence

52°

Irradiance

523 W/m²

Hour of day13:00
05:0013:0020:00
Day of year172 · Summer
JanAprJulOct

NOAA solar position · ±0.5° · drag the sliders to walk the year

(iii) · Stratigraphy · 1:5

A wall, read as a geology.

Detail · STR · 02

Wall stratigraphy

Total thickness

400 mm

Mass · m²

144 kg

Embodied CO₂

18 kg

Scale
1 : 5

Atrium of Light · build-up

  • 01Shikkui plaster, 6 coats
    22 mm33 kg/m²4 co₂
  • 02Hinoki cedar lining
    30 mm13 kg/m²2 co₂
  • 03Sheep-wool insulation
    140 mm4 kg/m²1 co₂
  • 04Cross-laminated timber
    180 mm85 kg/m²9 co₂
  • 05Yakisugi cedar, charred
    28 mm11 kg/m²2 co₂

(ii) · Materials

  • 01Shikkui plasterHand-applied lime, six coats
  • 02Yakisugi cedarCharred, brushed, oiled
  • 03Glass oculusBespoke, 4.2m diameter
  • 04TatamiInome rush, traditional weave

Drawing · Section A-A

(iv) · Credits

  • Principal

    Sina Rezvani

  • Local Architect

    Hiroshi Mori

  • Lighting

    Office for Visual Interaction

  • Photography

    Hiroyuki Oki

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