Zhaoyang Architects 赵扬建筑工作室

Home For All In Kesennuma

Home For All In Kesennuma
© Hisao Suzuki

Home For All In Kesennuma 

Zhaoyang Architects

CLIENT
People Of Ohya District In Kesennuma-city, Miyagi Prefectur

SITE SUPERVISION
Takezou Murakoshi

ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
Yang Zhao

ADVISOR
Kazuyo Sejima

LOCAL ARCHITECT
Masanori Watase

DESIGN TEAM
Ruofan Chen, Zhou Wu

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Hideaki Hamada

COST
100000 Euros

SITE AREA
419.21 Sqm

AREA
94 M²

YEAR
2013

LOCATION
Kesennuma, Japan

CATEGORY
Cultural Architecture, Community Center

Text description provided by architect.

The home-for-all in Kesennuma is designed and built as a gathering space for a fishing community that severely suffered from the Tsunami in 2011.

Home For All In Kesennuma
© Hisao Suzuki
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Jonathan Leijonhufvud

It is located at Kesennuma’s Oya fishing harbor that serves as a center for the local fishing activities and community life.

It’s a shelter in which fishermen can take a rest, a place where the wives would wait for their husbands to return [with the catch] and sometimes a marketplace.

Home For All In Kesennuma
© Jonathan Leijonhufvud
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Jonathan Leijonhufvud

Most part of the space opens to the exterior. A roof, supported by 3 “rooms”, covers an area of 117 square meters. At the center is a triangular-shaped hole in the ceiling that allows people to gaze directly at the sky.

The “rooms” with lifted benches are oriented toward the center and, at the same time, towards views of the surrounding landscape through the three entrances from different sides.

Home For All In Kesennuma
© Hisao Suzuki
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Jonathan Leijonhufvud

The kitchen room is glazed by glass sliding doors and can be slide open in pleasant weathers. The room nearest to the water can be enjoyed as an engawa (a space underneath the eaves, an important space for Japanese architecture and daily life).

The toilets are accessed and ventilated from the outside, while oriented towards the center and the sky through the slanted glazing. The surrounding ground will be paved to the same level as the space inside, allowing forklifts to enter in market hours.

Home For All In Kesennuma
© Hisao Suzuki
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Jonathan Leijonhufvud

The elemental geometry of the roof creates a dome-like space underneath. Together with the plywood (Japanese cypress) materiality, it generates a warm and protective atmosphere.

At the same time, the transparency of the supporting structure creates an open and welcoming character. At night, the building glows warmly from within, like a lighthouse, waiting for fishermen to come back from the sea.

Home For All In Kesennuma
© Hisao Suzuki
Home For All In Kesennuma

The project was the collaboration between architect Yang Zhao and his mentor Kazuyo Sejima during the 6th cycle of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Art Initiative.

The architects had three workshops with the local community to discuss about the design and get their approval to build. The completion and transfer ceremony took place on Oct. 27, 2013. The photos were taken on the ceremony day.

Home For All In Kesennuma
© Jonathan Leijonhufvud
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Hisao Suzuki
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Hisao Suzuki


Home For All In Kesennuma
© Hisao Suzuki
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Hisao Suzuki
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Jonathan Leijonhufvud
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Jonathan Leijonhufvud
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Jonathan Leijonhufvud
Home For All In Kesennuma
© Jonathan Leijonhufvud


Home For All In Kesennuma
Southeast Elevation
Home For All In Kesennuma
North Elevation
Home For All In Kesennuma
Southwest Elevation
Home For All In Kesennuma
Grund Floor Plan


Home For All In Kesennuma
Section 11
Home For All In Kesennuma
Section 22
Home For All In Kesennuma
Section 33

Home For All In Kesennuma
Roof Detail


Home For All In Kesennuma
Model
Home For All In Kesennuma
Model
Home For All In Kesennuma
Model
Home For All In Kesennuma
Model

Zhaoyang Architects 赵扬建筑工作室
T +86 872 5363045
Zhaoyang Architects 赵扬建筑工作室
3-3-102, Huamei, Shanshuijian, Dali, Yunnan Province, China 云南省大理白族自治州大理镇山水间一期画眉3-3-102