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Architects: Ayumu Ota, Martin van der Linden, Yuko Kawakita
- Area: 196 m²
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Photographs:Josh Lieberman
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Structural Design: Structured Environment, Alan Burdon
Text description provided by the architects. Yamada-machi is a town located on the central coastline of Japan’s Iwate prefecture. After a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the town on 11 March 2011, several major companies were urged to help by a longtime friend of Yamada-machi in The Hague, the Netherlands. The companies were both Dutch and International, including the van der Architects DSM, Rabobank, The Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in Japan, PA International Foundation and Stichting 't Trekpaert. This business group decided to offer the town a facility where children would have a place to play, heal and come together. Following extensive consultations with the Yamada-machi authorities, it was proposed in February 2012 to establish an after-school house and community centre.The Foundation is named after the island where in 1643 a Dutch ship, called The ‘Breskens’ landed in the Bay of Yamada. This island was called 'Oranda-jima ('Holland Island') 350 years after the ‘Breskens’ stranded there. Build as an afterschool facility - community centre for the children and people of Yamada machi.
