transparent acrylic glass panels shape the invisible awtbar
Ichio Matsuzawa Office creates an almost invisible bar that distorts reality through a series of heated, transparent acrylic glass panels around the open space. Named Awtbar, the installative social space during the Art Week Tokyo 2025 is the office’s study on the possibility of constructing an open environment that can appear not from walls or fixed shapes, but from how a material reacts to light, people, and movement. To realize this, the team turns to thick acrylic sheets with over 90 percent transparency, heated to form organic, flowing shapes that divide the room. The team says that the results offer three-dimensional shapes that curve in different directions.
As soon as the acrylic panels have cooled, they become firm and can stand without support, turning into the panels that make the pathways of the invisible Awtbar. These transparent acrylic glass panels are then placed in the space, mirroring what is around them. They also transmit light through their surfaces and change the way the environment looks by bending and distorting what is behind or in front of them. Because the acrylic is almost invisible, people mainly see the environment it reflects. In this way, the material is not the main focus. Instead, the reflections of people, plants, and objects become the main visible elements.
all images courtesy of Ichio Matsuzawa Office
Installative open space that mimics movement in the room
As visitors walk around the invisible Awtbar by Ichio Matsuzawa Office, new reflections appear. Then, when the light changes, the shapes also show new images. When wind moves trees outside, these changes also appear in the acrylic. The collective result is layers of reflections happening at the same time, which the team, led by Ichio Matsuzawa, calls ‘momentary scenes.’ In this invisible Awtbar with transparent acrylic glass panels, time and movement are not fixed. They come and go as people and the environment shift.
The space also includes furniture pieces that come from Ichio Matsuzawa’s very own small study models. He scaled the small models into full-size objects and made them functional for the temporary space. The architect brought these pieces to life to support the overall installative space and connect with the shapes of the flowy acrylic. The team wants to see if a space can come from changes in light, air movement, and human movement. Inside the invisible Awtbar, these become exactly the role of the transparent acrylic glass panels, whose presence creates a setting where the room is not one stable shape but changes all the time.
Ichio Matsuzawa Office creates an almost invisible bar that distorts reality
a series of heated, transparent acrylic glass panels divide the open space
the panels offer three-dimensional shapes that curve in different directions
these temporary walls transmit light through their surfaces and change the way the environment looks
because the acrylic is almost invisible, people mainly see the environment it reflects
light and movement come and go as people and the environment shift
the installative social space came to life during the Art Week Tokyo 2025
project info:
name: Awtbar
architect: Ichio Matsuzawa Office | @ichio_matsuzawa_office
sound: Koshiro Hino
lighting: Izumi Okayasu Lighting Design Office
construction: Ootwo Co.,Ltd. Click Co.,Ltd. Yoshimasa Metal Fab
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