KUSUGIBASHI BRIDGE
Kengo Kuma & Associates
ARCHITECTS
Kengo Kuma & Associates
COOPERATION
Oakplus
DESIGN TEAM
Minoru Yokoo, Shun Horiki, Toshiro Ota, Rikuro Sakaushi, Hossam Elbrrashi, Tomohiro Matsunaga
CONSTRUCTION
Nichiei Kogyo, Yuri Kensetsu Kogyo
PHOTOGRAPHS
Katsumasa Tanaka
YEAR
2022
LOCATION
Iwakuni, Japan
CATEGORY
Bridges, Pedestrian Bridge
Text description provided by architect.
A bridge in Osogoe, Shuto Town, Iwakuni City destroyed by the Western Japan Flood in July 2018, was rebuilt as a wooden bridge that will become a new symbol for the community.
On both sides of the bridge are the factory and store of “Dassai”, a Japanese sake produced by Asahi-Shuzo brewery known for its unique sake production, which covered the wooden part of the construction cost by donation.
Considering the risk of recurring disasters, an RC frame was combined with 105-square cypress balustrades.
The arrangement of the cypresses created a gentle curve that echoed the surrounding mountain range, and the use of 105-square members, the most used member-size in Japanese wooden construction, created a bridge with a nostalgic human scale.
By combining Japan's proud carpentry skills with the modern technology of computational design, a human and soft expression that has never been seen before in conventional civil engineering structures was created.
