Sumika Pavilion

I'm a huge fan of taking a moment to find serenity in nature - even if I'm just in my own garden or under the shade of a single tree. And so I have a soft spot for architecture that invites a similar feeling, which is why I love the Sumika Pavilion by Toyo Ito.

Completed in 2007, the pavilion is part of a project by Tokyo Gas which invited Japanese architects Sou Fujimoto, Terunobu Fujimori, Taira Nishizawa, and Toyo Ito to design houses of the future. The house is constructed of an armature of steel rods that is concealed by timber. Four irregularly positioned columns support the roof, and are surrounded each by three skylights. The Pavilion was designed as a gathering place similar to the blossoming cherry trees in Japan under which friends meet, and the unevenly shaped windows and skylights are reminiscent of sunshine falling through the leaves of a tree. Even the light fixtures echo the web-like feel of tree branches and the Pavilion's design.