top of page

2025

Client: Hinomaru Photo Studio (ArchTank)

Design: Yasumasa Hayashi + Kazu Kumagai (ArchTank)

Photographer: Tsutomu Yoshizaki

Hinomaru Photo Studio, located in Akizu, Hiroshima Prefecture, is a photography studio designed by the architectural firm ArchTank (Yasumasa Hayashi + Kazu Kumagai). The building was conceived as an attempt to design a new relationship between "views," "photography," and "townscape." The four volumes, arranged on a long, narrow site along the river, are independent yet arranged to resonate with each other. Half of them function as studios and offices, while the other half serves as a storefront open to the town, with the entire building constructed like a photographic set. The glass-covered space facing the street presents itself as infrastructure open to the town, and the further you go, the more quietly it connects to the Akizu landscape. This building was designed as an attempt to simultaneously "photograph the town" and "be photographed by the town." The concept for this shoot was based on the special connection of "photographing" a photo studio. The aim was to bring out the unique characteristics of the building, which exists not only as a device for taking photographs but also as infrastructure for capturing landscapes. When shooting, the rule was how to capture the primarily white white box space in a neutral way, and I took it upon myself to challenge myself as a photographer. I peered through the viewfinder, waiting for the moment when the light reflected beautifully on the multifaceted and scattered white walls with different textures. By capturing the changes in texture created by light and shadow, I visually expressed the role of architecture in "reflecting the town and being reflected in the town."
bottom of page