PROJECTS

An “Open Loop” Connecting Space, Activity, and Community

NEMARU PORT is a hub facility established to promote the Kamaishi Open Field Lab: an initiative in Kamaishi City that looks toward the next phase of recovery while addressing population decline, industrial transition, and environmental challenges. By welcoming people from both within and beyond the region, the facility serves as a place for implementing and testing forms of learning and diverse ways of working that are unique to Kamaishi. It was envisioned as a setting where multiple organizations could carry out training programs simultaneously, where different activities and actors might encounter one another by chance, and where the traces of these encounters would be accumulated as an archive, giving rise to new forms of synergy.

In response, we proposed a “loop” as the architectural framework of the building: a three-dimensional circular composition. By carefully interpreting the relationships among the required rooms and the conditions of the site, we connected the various activities in a strand-like sequence, forming a continuous loop with a sense of circulation. The southern volume was then lifted to generously draw in the surrounding environment—landscape, light, wind, and vegetation—and to create an architecture that embraces the climate and character of Kamaishi. Rather than shutting itself off from the outside, the building actively receives it, allowing interior and exterior to overlap.

The interior consists of five levels, each separated by approximately 70 centimeters. These levels are gently connected by ramps and a large staircase that also functions as seating, creating an integrated spatial experience while allowing scenes and activities to shift from one level to the next. By arranging activities as a continuous strand, we sought to create a sense of distance that is neither a single, undifferentiated open room nor a set of completely enclosed private rooms, enabling both interaction and concentration among training participants.

Local stories are also woven into the space through the use of materials and elements such as timber from Iwate Prefecture, local stone, finishes incorporating seashells, furniture made in collaboration with local companies, and a wood-burning stove. At the same time, the building incorporates mechanisms that allow users themselves to adjust their comfort, including operable small windows, natural ventilation, solar control, and the reuse of exhaust heat.

Through these architectural devices, NEMARU PORT was conceived not as a building that becomes complete and closed upon completion, but as an “open loop” that continues to generate relationships between the region and the outside, and between the environment and human activity.