Kanazawa Umimimrai Library

Glass-inlaid GRC panels providing the illusion of snow reflection

Kanazawa Umimimrai Library

Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture
DETAIL DESIGN
Coelacanth K&H Architects
DETAIL CONSTRUCTION
Toda, Kenroku, Takada JV
DETAIL SUMMARY OF WORK
The fourth public library in Kanazawa City. The three-storied building, a cuboid with a floor space of 45m by 45m, and a height of 18m, is covered with roughly 500 GRC panels. The panels with grooves on the horizontal seams have 20 inlaid round windows in each panel. This was not installed afterwards. The glass windows were placed on 1mm thick stainless steel panels, and GRC was sprayed on from on top using a specialised production method. An innovative appearance was achieved, marrying the windows and GRC without the use of epoxy resins and sealants.
POINT
The interior of the library is one big space with no slabs. The panels are supported by structural components embedded in the walls. Further, there were very high production and installation precision standards as the window positions and the structural components need to be aligned.
REFERENCE
GRC panel frontal and cross-sectional diagram

CONTACT

Inquiries

We welcome inquiries at
every stage of the project.