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NASCA Co., Ltd.
Nihonchusha Bldg. 4F 3-15-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo JAPAN 162-0052

T 03-5272-4808 F 03-5272-4021

Sukumo Hayashi House

3-1-3 Chuo, Sukumo, Kochi, JAPAN

Architect Furuya Nobuaki+NASCA
Usage Community space, cafe
Structure W
Size 2F
Site area 1,864.09m2
Area 494.69m2
Completion 2018.04
Award 2018 Kochi, Tree Culture Award

Sukumo city is a hometown to many politicians and great men who were active in the Bakumatsu and Meiji Restoration periods. Among them the Hayashi family is the first in modern Japan. It is a family that supported the development of modern Japan by producing cabinet ministers for 3 consecutive generations (HAYASHI Yuzo, HAYASHI Joji, HAYASHI Yuu).

The Hayashi house, established by HAYASHI Yuzo in 1889, was used as a place for political activity. Even now it is close to the Sukumo citizens as a residence reminiscent of the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement at the time. Hayashi house used to be private property, but due to age, being built almost 130 years ago, it has become extremely deteriorated.

This time, I got a chance to repair it as a gift to Sukumo city. This precious historical building will be passed down in the future as a memory device for the region. I thought about it not as a simple restoration but as a place for local people’s activities.

By dividing the building into 2 areas – “cultural renovation” and “modern renovation”, we aimed to make it function as the center for town development and tourism inside Sukumo town and as a place people outside the region can also visit. Also, in collaboration with prof. INAYAMA Masahiro of University of Tokyo, we arranged the ‘earthquake-resistant glass walls’ that have a feeling of no existence and ‘earthquake-resistant lattice walls’ that allow visibility and light to pass through and cast beautiful shadows matching the placement of shoji in the Japanese-style room.

Holding multiple workshops during the design and construction fazes, we planned for specific utilization methods, incorporating the citizens’ opinions into the space.

Sukumo Machi no Eki (Hayashi house) webpage

Photos: Asakawa Satoshi