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Architects: Kengo Kuma & Associates
- Area: 13921 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Kawasumi Kobayashi Kenji Photograph Office, Makoto Yoshida
Text description provided by the architects. Ishigaki City Hall, which was in a tsunami inundation zone, was relocated to a higher ground. The aim was to revive the Ishigaki landscape: layers of traditional red-tile stucco roofs surrounded by lush greenery. The planning was inspired by the settlement pattern of Ishigaki, where villages formed at the crossroads where rows of houses intersected.
For the city hall, we arranged various functions around along an east-west and a north-south axis, creating a street open to the community. This street will be extended outside of the city hall, allowing a new town to be connected to the surrounding greenery.
Traditional roof tiles coated with plaster are disappearing from Okinawa because plaster is easily damaged. We were able to restore the pattern of red and white traditional tiles by using white glazing to create a border on each tile. By using modern technology, we attempted to bring back traditional sceneries and landscapes.
