Kazuyo Sejima designed Laview train to travel floating into landscape

31/08/2019. Laview de los Ferrocarriles Seibu [Tokyo - Saitama] Japan [Tokio - Saitama] Japón
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
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Leview commuter train is a new train developed under the design direction of architect Kazuyo Sejima, which is now in operation on the line between Tokyo's Ikebukuro station and Chichibu in neighbouring Saitama prefecture since March 2019.

Named “Laview,” it stands for:
L for a space reminiscent of Luxurious Living.
a for speedy like an arrow.
view for the views through the large windows.
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
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The railway commissioned architect Kazuyo Sejima to design the Laview out of several hundred candidates. "One of the reasons we chose her was that she had no experience overseeing train design," said Katsuya Ushitsuka, head of Seibu's vehicle department. The design process began in December 2015.

The train was designed by Kazuyo Sejima with huge passenger windows that can gently blends into the urban and natural landscape. The concept was to develop a new train car that would become the departure point of Seibu Railway for the next 100 years. The 001 series is derived from the reverse of 100, with 00 also signifying many possibilities, or ∞, the symbol for infinity.
 
"I was approached to develop a train car concept, as never seen before. This is my first time to design a train and the most obvious difference with building design is that the train can move to different places. This train moves through the Tokyo to the mountains of Chichibu and I thought it would be nice for the train to be able to respond and blend into the surroundings in a soft way. Also, I wanted to make a train which feels like a living room where passengers can freely relax and feel motivated to ride the train everyday."
Architect Kazuyo Sejima

Each train has eight cars, with a total capacity of 422 seats and each passenger window is 135 centimetres by 158 centimetres and the bottom of each pane falls well below the usual point on regular commuter trains, to allow passengers to enjoy "large panoramic views".

Sejima has designed both the design concept, exterior and interior of the carriages. The upholstery for the carriages was designed in collaboration with textile designer Yoko Ando. Each seat has an adjustable headrest and a table within the armrest.

Lighting in the carriages is deliberately soft and indirect from the train's vaulted ceiling. Sejima collaborated with Shozo Toyohisa on the lighting, which adjusts throughout the day to create the most relaxing atmosphere depending on the time of day.

The mirrored exterior was created with an aluminium paint specially developed for the Laview train. The degree of reflection that the exterior surface would offer "was carefully studied to show a new impression of the scenery".

Sejima envisioned a train that could blend into both urban and natural landscapes, epitomized by the 1.5-meter wide spherical window covering the driver's seat.

Since launching in March, Seibu Railway's Laview has already won many fans with its uniquely round front window and silver exterior. Daily occupancy rates for Seibu's express trains have surged 60% to 70% on the year on weekends and 30% to 40% on weekdays as passengers clamor for a ride on the new train. Seibu plans to replace all seven trains that travel the 60 mile track between the two stations with the new trains by the end of 2019.
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Plan. Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Image courtesy of Seibu Railway's Laview
Elevation. Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Image courtesy of Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Kazuyo Sejima architect. Photograph by Aiko Suzuki
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
Laview train by Kazuyo Sejima. Photograph by Seibu Railway's Laview
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More information

Name
Seibu 001 series (西武001系), also known as "Laview".
Architect
Kazuyo Sejima (basic design supervision).
Client
Seibu Railway
Collaborators
Textile designer/coordinator.- Yoko Ando. Lighting designer.- Shozo Toyohisa. Architect.- Yoshitaka Tanase (design coordination/graphic design).

KAZUYO SEJIMA

Kazuyo Sejima. Architect. Born 1956 in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. Master’s in Architecture, Japan Women’s University, 1981. Worked in office of Toyo Ito before founding Kazuyo Sejima and Associates in 1987. Founded SANAA with Ryue Nishizawa in 1995. Awards won by SANAA include the Arnold Brunner Memorial Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2002), the Golden Lion at the 9th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale (2004), a design prize from the Architectural Institute of Japan (2006), the Kunstpreis Berlin from the Berlin Academy of Arts (2007), and the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2010). Works by SANAA include the Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art; the De Kunstlinie Theater and Cultural Center in Almere...

Yoko Ando

Yoko Ando. Textile coordinator/designer. Born 1968 in Tokyo. Employed as a creative staff member at the NUNO Corporation after graduating from the graphic design department of the Musashino Art University Junior College of Art and Design. Left her job and established Yoko Ando Design in 2011. She has worked on producing the textiles used in the work of many famous architects, including Toyo Ito, Riken Yamamoto, Jun Aoki, Coelacanth and Associates, and Akihisa Hirata.

Shozo Toyohisa

Shozo Toyohisa focuses on innovative lighting designs using the latest technologies. He earned international acclaim for his fibre optic lighting in the Contemporary Japanese Textiles exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He also works in a wide variety of artistic lighting fields, providing exhibition lighting design for the Tokyo National Museum and a number of art museums inside and outside Japan, as well as façade and shop lighting for Dior Omotesando and Gucci Ginza and lighting for public facilities such as Japan’s National Diet Library, all in Tokyo.

Yoshitaka Tanase

Yoshitaka Tanase. He was born in Mie Prefecture, Japan in 1970. Postgraduate in Architecture from the Kyoto Technology I. in 1994. He joined Kazuyo Sejima & Associates in 1994. He joined SANAA 1995. In 2003 he founded Tanase Architect Office He was a Guest Professor at Hosel University from 2006 to 2009. Guest Professor at the Tokyo University of Science from 2010 to 2011. He associates with SANAA in 2013.

KAZUYO SEJIMA & RYUE NISHIZAWA. SANAA

Kazuyo Sejima (Ibaraki, Japan, 1956) and Ryue Nishizawa (Kanagawa, Japan, 1966) worked independently from each other before founding the SANAA Ltd. studio in 1995. Having studied architecture at the Japan Women’s University, Sejima went on to work for the renowned architect Toyo Ito. She set up her own studio in 1987 and in 1992 was proclaimed Young Architect of the Year in Japan. Nishizawa studied architecture at the Yokohama National University. In addition to his work with Sejima, he has had his own practice since 1997.

The studio has built several extraordinarily successful commercial and institutional buildings, civic centres, homes and museums both in Japan and elsewhere. These include the O Museum in Nagano (1999) and the N Museum in Wakayama (1997), the Day-Care Center in Yokohama (2000), the Prada Beauty Store in Tokyo and Hong Kong (2001), the Issey Miyake and Christian Dior Building in Tokyo (2003) and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa (2004). Sejima also designed the famous Small House in Tokyo (2000), the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, Toledo, Ohio (2001-2006), the extension to the Institut Valencia d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain (2002 – ), the Zollverein School, Essen, Germany (2003-2006), the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2003-2007) and the Novartis Campus WSJ-157 Office Building, Basle, Switzerland (2003 – ).

In 2004 Sejima and Nishizawa were awarded the Golden Lion at the 9th Venice Architecture Biennale for their distinguished work on the Metamorph exhibition.

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa have won the 2010 Pritzker Prize.

The 12th International Architecture Exhibition, was directed by Kazuyo Sejima, the first woman to direct the venice architecture biennale, since its inception in 1980.

   

Ryue Nishizawa and Kazuyo Sejima. Kazuyo Sejima

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