The latest project to complete in architect Toyo Ito’s Home For All community rebuilding programme, bought in after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which hit Japan, is a timber and concrete pavilion in a fishing village.
It was designed by Yang Zhao and is the ninth building in the project, which involves the construction of new community buildings in the worst-hit areas.
Zhao designed his building for the coastline of the Kesennuma fishing community in north-west Japan, creating a structure that can be used as a market hall, a meeting place or a performance area.
“It’s a shelter in which fishermen can take a rest, a place where the wives would wait for their husbands to return with the catch and sometimes a marketplace,” explained Zhao.
“At night, the building glows warmly from within, like a lighthouse, waiting for fishermen to come back from the sea.”
Concrete walls support a large pitched roof and also frame a trio of wooden platforms that accommodate different activities.
The first platform has a kitchen and can be enclosed behind sliding glass doors. The second is based on the engawa, a traditional Japanese veranda, while the third includes both toilet facilities and a seating area.
A multi-purpose space at the centre of the pavilion is exposed to the elements and features a timber-lined ceiling punctured by a large triangular skylight.Â
