A remarkable new office building has emerged from the tranquil rice fields of Hashima City, Japan, featuring a distinctive sculptural rooftop that creates a bold architectural statement against the rural landscape. Designed by Atelier Nagara Architectural Design Office in collaboration with Permanent Co., the headquarters serves a company specializing in civil engineering and real estate development. The building's most striking feature is its rippling rooftop that rises sharply toward the east, creating a dramatic silhouette against the horizon before gracefully tapering down to meet the ground.
The architects drew inspiration from the rural setting, which is characterized by the steady rhythm of agricultural life and the constantly shifting light from nearby mountains. This natural environment guided the design team toward creating a structure that celebrates and honors the beauty found in everyday surroundings. The undulating geometry of the roof draws the eye along its gentle curves, allowing natural daylight and the changing colors of the sky to play across its surface throughout the day. Rather than competing with the landscape's quiet drama, the architectural form enhances and complements the natural setting.
The innovative rooftop design serves multiple functions beyond its aesthetic appeal. Rainwater and shadow patterns animate the roof's surface, drawing attention to the changing environmental conditions and natural rhythms that are often overlooked in daily life. In this way, the roof functions both as practical shelter and as an instrument of perception, heightening occupants' awareness of their natural surroundings. The bold incline cuts a sharp silhouette that transforms throughout the day as light conditions change.
The building's spatial composition extends this environmental awareness into the interior spaces. Beneath the raised roofline, a tall volume houses the main entrance and meeting rooms, opening the interior to panoramic views of the surrounding rice fields. The architects strategically positioned courtyards and verandas beneath the lower eaves, creating a carefully orchestrated sequence of thresholds that mediate between indoor and outdoor spaces. These transitional areas include small pauses in the floor plan featuring stones, plants, and filtered natural light that encourage moments of stillness and reflection.
These subtle design interventions effectively dissolve the traditional boundary between architecture and landscape, allowing the building to feel both firmly grounded in its site and openly connected to its surroundings. The interior spaces, while refined and professional, carry traces of the outside world through their careful selection of materials and thoughtful spatial arrangement. Large openings in the southern elevation are strategically shaded by low eaves, creating a careful balance between openness and protection that allows sunlight to filter deep into the work areas while maintaining an intimate connection with the adjacent garden.
The building's design promotes natural ventilation, allowing wind to move freely through the structure and carry with it the scents and sounds of the surrounding agricultural fields. Photography by Kenta Hasegawa captures how the architecture draws attention to subtle shifts in light, air, and water throughout the changing seasons. This thoughtful integration of natural elements creates breezy workspaces that blur the lines between inside and outside, providing employees with a unique working environment that maintains constant connection to the rural landscape that defines this region of Gifu Prefecture.
