Kinokuniya Oita, Japan

Located in the southern island of Japan, the general spaces and detailing of the store, takes on a role of revisiting and modernizing Japanese culture, crafts and icons. This store is centrally orchestrated by a gird-Iike circulation path inspired by the graphic representation of the ‘九’, which is inspired by the kanji character of ‘九’ in Kyushu. This circulation path consecutively divides the large space into various smaller book zone sections.

Modularization forms an important part of Japanese culture and crafts. As such, its detailing should influence the spatial quality too. Here, the traditional modular wood gird patterns found in Japanese crafts, have taken on a new role to define the central spaces from the celling and also to form lattice seating benches along the wall shelves. A combination of different wood types with different widths are designed as a floor module and used as pattern to complement with mosaic stone floor patterns found on the circulation path. These created a subtle pattern of Japanese modular system which the public can sense its intricateness and discover the relationship between module and scale, when they moved through the space.