24H House

24H House is an urban space inspired by Japanese cyber café. The space operates as a social cyber café during the day, with private cubicles as well as a common gaming area. During the night the building provides its users a place to sleep, to clean and to eat, as well as some space for social activities. The building was design especially for the needs of a growing Japanese social group called “Net Café Refugee”. those “refugees” are mostly people who lack the stability of the Japanese society, whether it’s a permanent job, a place of living or a family. The refugees usually
spend the night at different cyber cafés around the city. 24H House enable the smart use of the precious urban space along the entire day and by different populations. The space program and its level of privacy differ between the horizontal and the vertical structure. while the horizontal structure creates separations between different uses, the vertical one is much more flexible and enables overlapping between different spaces.       
Due to the fact that the private space has to host different activities along the day, its structure must be as flexible as possible. The design of this part of the building is based on a steel structure with moving partition made out of wicker, wood and glass, each have a different use. The dynamic partitions allow the different uses of the space along the day. The steel structure is made of a grid that is based on the human body proportions in different postures. In fact, the private cells structure can be seen as a border-less system with endless variations and populating possibilities. The inner private activity influence both the inner facade and the main facade that faces the street. The different users fit the space to their specific needs, and that specific space now screens itself onto both facades.