Tsurugawa Shopping District Area Base Facility　

Kunisaki-city, Oita, Japan

Kunisaki City is located in the eastern part of the Kunisaki Peninsula, a place of Shintoism and Buddhism, where the influence of history and culture still remains. It also has a Seto Inland Sea climate and is the gateway to the city with Oita Airport. The Tsurugawa area has flourished as a shopping district centered on Sakura Hachiman Shrine located in front of the site, but in response to its decline in recent years, a project to explore the future of the town was underway. The base facility is a practical implementation of this project. The site is divided into two sections across the village road: the newly built Challenge Shop (CS) wing and the Telework (TW) wing, which is a renovated 120-year old clinic in a former private house, connected by a covered walkway. The CS building is a 2,730 x 2,730 modular lattice-like space divided by sliding glass doors that can be changed into one to five sections depending on the size of the store. In the TW building, the flooring on the first floor was removed and replaced with an earthen concrete floor for structural reinforcement. The difference in level from the existing flooring, such as the porch, creates a new space for sitting or other uses of the space, and provides an opportunity for new activities. The ceiling finish on the second floor was removed to expose the roof framing, allowing air and light to circulate through the atrium, and the building as a whole began to breathe after 120 years of use. In addition, the vast garden on the site was designed to allow for outdoor activities by organizing the trees and allowing visitors to walk around the garden. On the other hand, the CS building is constructed with pre-cut 105-wide cedar timbers and modern hardware. The TW building is constructed of thick, rough logs and square timbers in primitive wood framing. The building traverses the history of the region, allowing visitors to experience the struggle between the techniques of the present and those of 120 years ago.