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Architect: Shuhei Endo Architect Institute
Location: Osaka, Japan
Date founded: 1988
Design staff: 8
Principal: Shuhei Endo
Education: M. Arch., Kyoto City University of Art, 1986
Work history: Osamu Ishii & Biken Associates, 1986-88
Key completed projects: Cyclestation M, Maihara-cho, Shiga, Japan, 1994; Healtecture K, Takatsuki, Osaka, 1996; Transtation O, Sakai-cho, Fukui, Japan, 1997; Halftecture F, Fukui, 1997; Springtecture H, Shingu-cho, Hyogo, Japan, 1998; Rooftecture O, Shimizu-chu, Fukui, 1998; Rooftecture Y, Yamasaki-cho, Hyogo, 2000; Rooftecture B, Biwa-cho, Hyogo, 2000; Rooftecture K, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, 2000
Key current projects: Rooftecture M, Maruoka-cho, Fukui, 2001; Springtecture B, Biwa-cho, Shiga, 2001; Complex Project, Maihara-cho, Shiga, 2002; Office Building, Osaka-Shi, Osaka, 2002; Kindergarten, Maihara-cho, Shiga, 2002; Crematory project, Taishi-cho, Hyogo, 2003
Web site: www2c.airnet.ne.jp/endo
Japan gives rise to some pretty unusual buildings, but Osaka architect Shuhei Endo's curling ribbons of corrugated steel are in a class of their own. Instead of enclosing space with a standard system of roof, floor, and wall, Endo envelopes it in metal sheets, glass, and even reinforced concrete. ``It's like the difference between a wooden box with discrete top, bottom, and sides and a traditional furoshiki wrapper [a gift wrap] made from a single square of cloth,'' he explains. In the resulting buildings, walls turn into roofs that turn into floors that turn into walls again, with interior spaces connecting seamlessly to the outdoors.
The architect's first foray into what he calls his ``noncompositional''...