KAIA Bio-Cosmetics Innovation Campus
Kyoto, Japan
Where Innovation Takes Form
“Architecture here becomes the silent collaborator — shaping ideas into prototypes, and curiosity into creation.”
Project Overview
Nestled on the forested edge of Kyoto’s northern research corridor, the KAIA Bio-Cosmetics Innovation Campus is a global research and development hub for South Korea-based KAIA Laboratories — a rising disruptor in the plant-based beauty and skincare space. Designed by the Danish-Japanese architectural studio NOMA+, the facility merges cutting-edge biotechnology labs with a design philosophy deeply rooted in environmental consciousness, Japanese aesthetics, and human-centric innovation.
The Innovation Campus is not just a workplace; it’s a living ecosystem for collaboration, experimentation, and cultural exchange. The architecture respects the surrounding forest topography while blurring the boundaries between indoors and out — transforming a conventional R&D center into a serene, sensory-driven environment where researchers, designers, and nature coexist.
Design Philosophy
The design was guided by KAIA’s core values of sustainability, transparency, and science inspired by nature. Taking cues from traditional Japanese engawa (threshold spaces) and Scandinavian lightness, the architecture introduces modular transparency, warm minimalism, and nature-driven wellness across its labs, offices, and collaborative zones.
Rather than isolating departments, the Campus is built as a flowing loop of zones: R&D, ingredient incubation, formulation labs, pilot testing, and packaging prototyping all orbit around a shared ‘green void’ — a planted atrium that changes with the seasons and serves as both a visual and collaborative anchor.
Flexibility was a key goal: lab modules are designed to be reconfigured within 24 hours to support varied workflows, ensuring agility for KAIA’s evolving research landscape.
Design Features & Materials
- Biophilic Core: 2,000 sq. ft central indoor forest with native bamboo, mosses, and water features to maintain optimal humidity for botanical research and mental wellness.
- Materiality: Exterior skin is made from carbon-negative hempcrete panels; interior includes charred yakisugi cedar, translucent washi partitions, and recycled aluminum for lab infrastructure.
- Natural Light Strategy: Skylight ribbons and reflective louvers reduce energy usage while mimicking Kyoto’s soft, diffuse daylight.
- Workplace Integration: Glazing between labs and communal areas emphasizes transparency and KAIA’s philosophy of “visible science.”
- Cultural Infusions: Tatami-inspired breakout zones, tea ceremony-inspired ideation pods, and seasonal planting echo local rituals and rhythms.
Location:
Kyoto, Japan
Type:
Research, Product Development & Pilot Production Facility
Built-Up Area:
125,000 sq. ft
Status:
Completed 2024
Client:
KAIA Laboratories, Seoul, South Korea
Design Approach:
Biophilic Innovation, Modular Lab Design, Sustainable & Cultural Integration
Lead Architect: Ar. Sandesh Patil
Team Members:
Ar. Sofia Delgado – Design Development (Europe)
Kenji Ito – Structural Integration (Japan)
Lara Sethi – Cultural Research & Translation
Dev Somasundaram – Project Coordination & Logistics
Global Design Excellence Award
– 2023
India Design Forum Honors
– 2024
Sustainability Strategies
- Passive Heating & Cooling: Earth tubes, geothermal wells, and a double-skin façade with operable shading.
- Energy Positive: 125% of building’s energy demand met through solar arrays, micro wind turbines, and biogas from organic waste.
- Water Circularity: Closed-loop greywater system supports landscaping and non-potable use; botanical lab effluents treated through reed beds.
- Net-Zero Carbon: Cradle-to-gate embodied carbon offset through regional reforestation and material choices.
Key Innovation Zones
- The Phyto Lab: A clean zone dedicated to the extraction, fermentation, and analysis of rare botanicals, designed with lab transparency and visitor visibility in mind.
- Microclimate Testing Chambers: Climate-controlled skin labs simulate humidity and UV exposure for product efficacy validation.
- The Ideas Terrace: A stepped green roof functioning as a co-creation space for KAIA scientists, artists, and bio-design researchers.
- Pilot Bay 4.0: Semi-automated mini-manufacturing zone where AI-integrated robotics produce sample-sized runs of new formulations.
Client Statement
“Our Kyoto campus is an invitation to work differently — where the line between lab and nature dissolves, and beauty begins with curiosity, clarity, and care.”
— Dr. Hana Kim, Chief Innovation Officer, KAIA Laboratories
Get in Touch
(+91) 6835961520
studiosp@contact.in