Klein Dytham Architecture

Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL

Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
© Koichi Torimura

SOMA CITY HOME-FOR-ALL

Toyo Ito & Associates + Klein Dytham Architecture

CLIENT
Point Japan

PHOTOGRAPHS
Koichi Torimura

DESIGN TEAM
Astrid Klein, Mark Dytham, Yukinari Hisayama, Yu Azuma, Toyo Ito, Toyohiko Kobayashi

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Arup, Mitsuhiro Kanada, Katsuya Sakurai, Hirotaka Ogihara

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Shelter, Yoshihiro Kimura, Toru Maki Hiroyuki Adachi, Koji Shitara Kusano Kensetsu

CO SPONSORSHIP
Ykk Ap, Kawashima Selkon, Tajima Roofing, Daiko Toto, Osmo&edel, Hoxan, Bo&co, Asahi Dupont Daikin, Hitachi, Ck, Achilles, Bankyo Floor, Scrimtec Japan, Lynnbelys Illumination, Nip Corporation Mag Isover, Cemedine, 3m Japan, Fds, Union, Kakudai

AREA
152 M²

YEAR
2015

LOCATION
Soma, Japan

CATEGORY
Kindergarten

Text description provided by architect.

Klein Dytham architecture's Home-for-All project in Soma City, Japan was handed over to the local community on the 14th February 2015 with much love.

Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
© Koichi Torimura
Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
© Koichi Torimura

The Home-for-All initiative was set up within months of the 11th March 2011, Tohoku earthquake and tsunami to build small community centres in the heart of the acres of temporary housing that were built to replace the 250,000 homes that were destroyed.

To date, thanks to incredibly generous donations from Japan and all around the world, several Home-for-All buildings have been built.

Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
© Koichi Torimura
Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
© Koichi Torimura

Conceived as a large straw hat held aloft by trees, this building is an indoor play space for children between the ages of 0-4 . These spaces are important due to the ongoing concerns about background radiation levels.

As the children cannot play outside, we felt the building should feel like they are playing in a park with trees.

The cross laminated timber columns help reduce the span of the timber roof making it lighter and have been designed to resemble trees – complete with their own wild life!

Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
© Koichi Torimura
Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
© Koichi Torimura

The roof is made up of 9 layers of timber slats. Each slat is continuous, the longest being 20m in length.

The slats are laid over a formwork one layer at a time, with each successive layer rotated through 120 degrees.

Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
© Koichi Torimura
Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
© Koichi Torimura

The project was made possible by donations from all over Japan through the T-Point card system and the generous in kind support by many construction material and equipment suppliers. All professional services for the project were provided pro-bono.


Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
Section
Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
Elevation
Soma City HOME-FOR-ALL
Plan

Klein Dytham Architecture
T +81 3 57952277
Klein Dytham Architecture
1-15-7 Hiroo, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0012, Japan