Works

Niwa of the cooperative house

A large hackberry tree towers over the backyard. It has survived thanks to the wishes of the previous owner and the future residents to come. Nowadays, the term SDGs has become ubiquitous. But Japan is still stuck in a scrap-and-build society where “the newer, the better” is the maxim.

 The clients and we took the exact opposite approach with this cooperative house. Through workshops and other activities, all of us have deepened the understanding of the surrounding environments and the history of this site, sharing the respect for them.

 We aim to preserve at least some of the appearance of the land, and by repeating it accumulate the history’s layers of each era. We hope this place would eventually evolve into a cultural hub cherished once again by the local community.

photo by Masao NISHIKAWA