Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA) designed three projects for this plan: the Sun Sun Shopping Center (2017), the Nakabashi Bridge (2020), and the Minamisanriku 311 Memorial (2022), which represents the culmination of this reconstruction plan while linking the memories of the past with the future.
The building, designed to function as a void that draws people in, has an east-west axis and a north-south axis while also evoking the appearance of a sacred Torii gate. The exterior wall is covered with Minamisanriku cedar latticework, creating a perspective effect that gives the impression of being drawn into a void, thanks to the radial arrangement of the columns from the vanishing point.
Minamisanriku 311 Memorial by KKAA. Photograph by Keishin Horikoshi・Kosuke Nakao/SS Tokyo.
Project description by KKAA
Since the year 2013, I have been involved with the plan for the reconstruction of Minamisanriku, which suffered some of the most devastating damage due to the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, and created a master plan for the manmade ground which was raised 10 meters, consisting of three concepts: (1) Reconnecting the town with the sea, (2) Reconnecting the mountains and shrine, and (3) Creating an walkable and enjoyable street.
We designed three facilities comprising the core of the plan – the Sun Sun Shopping Village (2017), Nakabashi Bridge (2020) and 3.11 Memorial (2022）– with the 3.11 Memorial representing the culmination of the reconstruction plan, becoming the hub for the ocean, mountains and town (street), while at the same time it was planned as a means of connecting memories of the past to the future.
The building was planned to serve as a hole to draw people in, with the East-West axis going from the ocean through this hole along the shopping street to the mountains, and the North-South axis going from the Disaster Memorial Park across the Nakabashi Bridge to Kaminoyama Hachimangu Shrine. It was designed to have an appearance that resembles a sacred Torii gate.
The outer wall of this gate is covered with louvers made from Minamisanriku cedar, and a perspective effect that makes it feel like you are being pulled into a hole has been achieved by arranging the louvers radially from the vanishing point according to the principle of perspective.
In addition to various items that convey memories of the disaster, the work entitled MEMORIAL by Christian Boltanski which was inspired by the disaster, as well as a group of works by young artists from the Tokyo University of Arts who experienced the disaster, are on display inside the Memorial.
