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Asphalt Spot
Francois Roche and R&Sie(n)
Tokamashi, Japan
2003

Asphalt Spot is an outdoor exhibition space within an undulating car park. Built for the City of Tokamashi, Francois Roche and R&Sie(n) had the design objective to create a feeling of disequilibrium so that visitors were physically forced to interact with their surroundings.

The undulating surface appears as an asphalt drop on the site, bringing into question roles of reversal. Is it the asphalt itself as the object or is that roof surface hiding the folly, the exhibit hall? The reversal continues by playing with color. We normally imagine an exhibition space to be white and the infrastructure to be unnoticed. Here, the pristine white acts as structure and the blacktop becomes the elevated and noticed display area.