Commercial / Tokyo, Japan / 2024

Zenith Studio

A photography studio where the light was the product, and the interior had spent a decade fighting it.

Shooting floor with a full-height dark marble wall and a polished screed underfoot — CONCRETE / TOKYO

Scope: Interior architecture, lighting, material specification
Area: 285 sqm
Duration: 8 months

Problem

01 Amber cast from the oak floor
02 3000K fighting 6500K north daylight
03 No neutral reference surface anywhere

Design Approach

Every surface in the shooting volume was specified by spectrophotometer — honed concrete, neutral plaster and a seamless cyclorama held within 0.4 delta-E. Warm timber and the original brick survive in circulation and the viewing area, screened from the floor so they cannot enter a frame.

Result

The same floor rebuilt in neutral tones, lit entirely by the north clerestory — Drag to compare

The original client office, fitted before the studio floor beyond it was rebuilt — Drag to compare

The shooting volume under north daylight alone — NORTH LIGHT

Warm timber client viewing area, screened from the shooting floor — VIEWING / TIMBER

The approach corridor in neutral plaster, kept dark so the shooting floor reads bright — NEUTRAL / APPROACH

retouching per shoot day: -2 hrs retouching per shoot day
max delta-E across shooting surfaces: 0.4 max delta-E across shooting surfaces
colour temperature on the floor, from two: 1 colour temperature on the floor, from two

“For eleven years I corrected my own building in post. I did not realise that was a choice.”

— Studio Principal, Meguro

Discuss a project like this

The building stopped appearing in the photographs.

Zenith Studio

Problem

Design Approach

Result

Jakarta Boutique Hotel

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