Project Ideas.
The town of Iiyama is located in Nagano prefecture, whose Japan Railway station lies on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line, scheduled to run from the end of 2014. The project is a cultural complex of two halls and a community center.
Publicly-funded cultural centers tend to be alienated from the rest of the town for their typically large volumes. Here instead, we designed the complex to be as open as possible toward the town and the landscape of Iiyama, so that all would exist in harmony. The three spaces are scattered in the site as separate, independent buildings, while providing a roofed street called “Nakamichi (central path)” in the gaps. Nakamichi is open towards many directions and could be a passage to seamlessly connect activities between the town and Iiyama Plaza. The big hall can vary into different forms according to users’ purposes – from a pit-typed auditorium to a terraced seating theater (using roll-back seating). The large opening of this hall can also be open as part of Nakamichi.
Mass and high-speed transport by Shinkansen gives significant impact on the hosting town’s community and economy. Given this timing, we would like to see the architecture encourage a revival of the streets and gathering places for people, and to connect them firmly to the ground.
CREDITS
Developer.- City of Iiyama.
Site.- Iiyama, Nagano, Japan.
Main use / program .- Cultural Complex
Total floor area.- 4,000 sqm (43,056 sqf)
Height.- 2 stories above ground and 1 down.
Completion dates.- February, 2015.
