Minna no Mori – “a forest for everyone” – is a new media centre with an area of roughly 7,500 m² in Gifu, Japan. On the ground floor are various public zones. The upper floor comprises a large, open reading space, with 11 “globes” that lend the building its unmistakable character.
These translucent, woven polyester light shades with applied fabric patterns diffuse both daylight and the artificial light from the lamps inside. Over the shades, the wooden roof curves gently upwards in a series of canopy-like forms that were inspired by the nearby Kinka Hills, and the construction layers are reduced to a diaphanous latticework, with laminated cypress wood strips intersecting to form a load-bearing system.
These translucent, woven polyester light shades with applied fabric patterns diffuse both daylight and the artificial light from the lamps inside. Over the shades, the wooden roof curves gently upwards in a series of canopy-like forms that were inspired by the nearby Kinka Hills, and the construction layers are reduced to a diaphanous latticework, with laminated cypress wood strips intersecting to form a load-bearing system.