Soba Restaurant at Togakushi Shrine

3506 Togakushi, Nagano-shi, Nagano, Japan
2003.03
Restraunt
237.10m2

Togakushi Shrine is a one of the most significant sacred place in Japan. The Shrine is not only the core of the region but also the heart of mountainous religion in Japan. The strong verticality of the Togakushi Mountain is confronted with the horizontality of the approach to the shrine – a straight path with the soba restaurant at its very beginning. We were asked by Togakushi Shrine to design a new restaurant since the existing was deteriorating.

My approach was to make something different than an object in order not to spoil the existing spirit of the Okusya. Here architecture becomes the approach to the shrine. I feel that the true nature of architecture is like a frame or path that exists in between the subject and the object. The architecture is placed diagonally to the path so that the meaning of the whole architecture turns into an anti-object and emphasizes the connectional quality of the path rather than the built presence. By lowering the height of the eaves, made possible by the gabled roof, I wanted to make the presence of walls disappear into the surrounding environments. The depth of joist had to be greater than that of Ando Hiroshige Museum in order to carry the weight of the settled snow.

More emphasis is placed on surfaces than on lines. This was accomplished by bearing the joists on the steel frame. In terms of details the terrace wall demanded most consideration: from inside both ends of the vertical louvers are invisible, and the ends are abruptly cut off. Border fixings are usually added, whereas I introduced no additions between architecture and the surrounding environment in order to de-emphasize the end and the beginning in one easy flow.

This method correlates to the spatial approach of the shrine and the movement at the site.