Galleria Akka

Galleria [akka] - a department store with an exhibition gallery on the top floor is located among the chaotically arranged low-rise buildings in the shopping district of downtown Osaka. The box made of exposed concrete encloses a plot that is 8 meters wide and 40 meters deep. From the rational exterior, it is impossible to discern the spatial drama happening inside, where one encounters a raised atrium that extends from the second basement to the top floor. The atrium occupies almost half of the total volume of the building, and inside the elongated box, it is defined by a concrete wall with a radius of 28 meters, along which most of the staircases wind. The roof made of opaque glass, which covers the atrium and the exhibition
rooms on the top floor, is similarly rounded (excerpted from the book by Francesco Dal Co).