College of Taxation Wako Campus Wako-shi, Saitama, Japan Architect: Kume Sekkei Ltd. Construction completed: July 1998
1a College of Taxation Wako Campus 1996-1998 project list RAY index	College of Taxation Wako Campus provides facilities for students through two scenes of their life, studying and living; therefore, the lighting too had to consider both aspect of the educational environment. The pilotis and the lobby of the office section operate as the facade of the campus. Upperlights illuminate the ceiling, and along with trees before the building, emphasize the existence of the college. The welfare section has a dining hall and a sunken garden. Pendent lamps furnish the relaxing space of the hall, and blue threads of glow lead people down to the garden. The threads on the wall link the interior space to the exterior with its broken expression. In the garden, illuminated walls and trees supply ample luminance cooperating with the leaks of light from the gymnasium. The plaza is encircled with the training institute and the lecture theater, and brightened with light from the two buildings. We avoided using pole lamps to preserve the vast space of the forum. The sculpture in the middle gives a tone to the space, with restrained illumination from under the benches and within the slits on the wall. The dormitory, home of the students, leads them back through the pathway among illuminated columns, which stands for the gradual approach to their private life. As a result, the interior illumination became an efficient actor of the exterior with its scent of livelihood. It is a school, the most formal space; however, even at night, there is no longer an empty ruin. Copyright © 1999-2013 Reiko Chikada Lighting Design Inc. All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified.