Garden Terrace Nagasaki

Nagasaki, Japan
Photo © Daici Ano
Photo © Daici Ano
Photo © Daici Ano
Photo © Daici Ano
Photo © Daici Ano
Photo © Daici Ano
Photo © Daici Ano
Photo © Daici Ano
Photo © Daici Ano
Photo © Daici Ano
Architects
Kengo Kuma & Associates
Location
2-3 Akizukimachi, 850-0064 Nagasaki, Japan
Year
2009
Size

7104.18m2

One of our biggest challenges in this project was to integrate three entirely different volumes – a big box, a small box, and a linear form – via several common identities. One of those identities is the box, which also serves as a roof. The other is the concept of an architectural form that is “made of,” but not “covered with,” a natural material, in this case wood.

In the main hall (the largest space), two of the walls are inflected at the top so that they transform into the roof. The area under the roof is resolved as a void filled with thin pillars and small glass boxes, rather than as a solid. Its ‘roof-ness’ is therefore emphasized, as is the dual role of the box/roof.

As for the ‘made of wood’ aspect, we did not interpret that to simply mean using lots of wood for the exterior and interior of the building. Because trees are naturally much smaller than these large buildings, a huge gap in scale exists between the two forms, making it difficult to achieve the idea of ‘made of wood.’ To solve the problem we created wooden panels sized midway between a tree and the volume of the building. This worked well to create a sense that the buildings are ‘made of’ wood.

In order to link the composition of the wood panels with that of the windows, we varied the size and position of the windows at random. Thus the whole structure feels as if it is made of all its elements at once: windows and panels, but also the smaller particles that make up those larger units.

Related Projects

  • Shanghai Suhe MixC World
    KOKAISTUDIOS
  • Welcome to the Stage!
    Kjellander Sjöberg
  • Hovering Kan-Too – Great Bay Area Center Showroom
    Wutopia Lab
  • Stockwell-Rodríguez Residence
    Belmont Freeman Architects
  • Haunsbergstraße | 1. Preis
    Architektinnen Schremmer.Jell ZT GmbH

Magazine

Other Projects by Kengo Kuma & Associates

Stone Museum
Tochigi, Japan
Shimonoseki-shi Kawatana Onsen Koryu Center
Yamaguchi, Japan
Xinjin Zhi Museum
Chengdu, China
Suntory Museum of Art
Tokyo, Japan
Water / Glass
Shizuoka, Japan