TORAFU ARCHITECTS

The MINAMO is a space which embodies TOTO’s concept of “cherishing water”. Created by TORAFU ARCHITECTS for Tokyo Designers Week 2011, it lets you feel the shimmer and beauty of water. It is an exhibition booth that uses no water yet interactively gives visitors the sense of the surface of water (minamo).

Water keeps moving in ever-changing form. We sought to create a space that has no water yet still gives a sense of its existence, by focusing on the sheer pleasure in its behavior and the beauty of the phenomena it creates. Step on the flexible light receiving reflector, and you will see the reflected light begin shimmering like the surface of water (minamo). This is an interactive space that changes its expression dynamically. You will feel as if you are surrounded by lights that are softly reflected by the water’s surface, or as if you are looking up at the surface from underwater. While enjoying the pleasurable sensation, perhaps you will also give a thought to the value of water.