SPATIAL COMPOSITION AND FUNCTIONAL ARTICULATION OF JAPANESE CONTEMPORARY CITY HALLS : A study on architectural composition with articulation of exterior volumes

Abstract

In present paper we typologically clarify the characteristics of spatial composition of Japanese contemporary city halls by analyzing the relation between their exterior composition and articulation of spaces and functional divisions. First we find typical characteristics of the city halls' external composition through defining them as several different patterns of external volumes' arrangement. Secondly we analyzed their relation to the spatial and functional articulation. Finally we compare several types of spatial composition, and figure out that the characteristics of spatial composition of Japanese contemporary city halls mainly depends on how the exterior volumes articulates their functions, and that the exterior open space surrounded by building tends to appear with big interior spaces.