Akizuki-no-tori Project

秋月野鳥プロジェクト

A guest house project in Akizuki, Fukuoka.

Akizuki is an old village formed in a valley carved out by the flow of the Notori River, and has long been known as a famous place for its crystal clear water. The streets are lined with ancient stone walls, samurai houses and machiya townhouses. It is a pristine town, very much rooted in the history and culture of the area.

The request from the client was for a guesthouse where anyone could feel comfortable, and for an architecture that could contribute to community development. We began by setting up a dialogue, and through conversations with locals and regular site visits, we became intrigued by the Nagayamon house typology. The Nagayamon (gate-house) is an interesting condition, where people live in the space that signifies a gate, living inside the boundary between the town and the house.

As the project site exists at the border of the old and new Akizuki towns, we decided to design a guesthouse that would symbolise a gate, linking the past with the present.

So the project began with a division, the public space on the ground floor and the private spaces raised above the ground. The ground floor space is an open room, used for meals and exchanges like a salon where people can gather naturally on the land. The private spaces for staying are raised above ground to reduce the effect of humidity in the Summer, and to ensure a more intimate connection with the surroundings.

The materiality of the project was formed through a careful balance between the honesty of the local vernacular, and simple invention with crafts and techniques. It is a pleasure to wake up in the morning and wash your face with water pumped up from the ground, in the diffused morning light of a shoji screen made from taiko drum skins, you feel suddenly somewhere far away. In this sense, what we tried to create was a quiet, affluent sense of time.