Community

This project is a new town hall for Niseko Town, regarded as one of the world’s leading ski resorts. Niseko receives some of the heaviest snowfall in Hokkaido, and measures against snow cornices are a major issue when planning buildings in urban areas. One of the design themes was the pursuit of a cross-sectional shape that can cope with heavy snowfall, together with the integration of the town hall program.

This renovation and expansion project for a small municipal building aims to transform it and adapt its sociocultural use as “La C@va” Youth Center. The objective of the project is the identification of a new space for youth activity that strengthens social and cultural relationships, to reinforce the feeling of collective identity and belonging to the site. The building has been designed with a plural functionality program, considering the diversity of users, their use of space and the connection with the park where it is located.

The town of Kamikatsu in Tokushima Prefecture aims to become a sustainable recycling community and has pledged to produce zero waste. Its recycling rate has already reached 80% by sorting trash into 45 categories, with used items displayed like a store at the recycling center. As mass-production, mass-consumption society shows signs of an impasse, there are high anticipations both at home and abroad for this movement.

The project is located in Mangmi Village in Yangpyeong, South Korea, in the valley where three mountains meet. Sitting in the deep mountains, the site retains a calm, peaceful vibrance. After retirement, the client couple have been living there growing fruit trees. They asked for a community facility and a glasshouse along with a campsite. The most important feature of the site is the forest. Trees rooted down there for a long time have memories of the place more than anything. 

The new  Socio-cultural center was created on the site of an old outlived Sokol building in the historic center of the village. This village does not have the classic public square and instead is replaced by the Sokec area here, an indispensable phenomenon forever.