The Human Coffee Table by Jima Architects


Looks pretty normal to me…

Architecture websites are notoriously dense with information, and even some of the most esteemed firms have fallen straight into the ‘too much of a good thing’ trap, choosing to represent themselves virtually with elaborate, browser-crashing websites brimming with dizzying stockpiles of images to sort through. It gets even more complicated when the websites are in a foreign language. But whether or not something is lost in translation here, the website for Osaka-based studio Jima Architects will undoubtedly arouse a chuckle or at least a raised eyebrow for those dedicated enough to sort through its archives. As the expert Japanophiles at Spoon & Tamago noticed, amidst a seemingly typical online design portfolio is an “unexplained masochistic human coffee table,” an elliptical pane of transparent glass supported by someone frozen in what could well be a Pilates position. Did someone lose a bet? Regardless, we applaud the firm’s dry sense of humor and/or creative vision.


Wait a minute…