ArchDaily | Broadcasting Architecture Worldwide https://www.archdaily.com/ Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://assets.adsttc.com/doodles/archdaily-logo-feedly.svg 026CB6 https://www.archdaily.com/909986/pit-terrace-jorge-almazan-architects-plus-keio-university-almazan-lab Tue, 22 Jan 2019 22:00:00 +0000 Rayen Sagredo https://www.archdaily.com/909986/pit-terrace-jorge-almazan-architects-plus-keio-university-almazan-lab Ichikawamisato (Yamanashi Prefecture) suffers many of the typical problems of contemporary regional Japan. With a declining population and an increasing suburbanization and sprawl, the urban core has lost its vitality. Originally the municipality followed a compact built-up configuration, with a shopping street extending from the station. Nowadays train users have decreased dramatically, and the small shops have almost disappeared as big box stores in the outskirts absorbed all commercial activities. People have come to depend completely on the car for their everyday life and parking space has taken up exterior space around shops and houses. With few people walking on the streets, this car-based lifestyle discourages spontaneous encounters and weakens the sense of community.

]]> https://www.archdaily.com/795624/conversion-of-a-sake-warehouse-jorge-almazan-plus-keio-university-almazan-lab Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:00:00 +0000 Daniel Tapia https://www.archdaily.com/795624/conversion-of-a-sake-warehouse-jorge-almazan-plus-keio-university-almazan-lab This project is a conversion of a kura, a traditional Japanese warehouse, into a community space. In cooperation with a local community group, we restored and renovated this building with the broader goal of contributing to the revitalization of the area. Located in Ichikawamisatocho, a Japanese provincial town in Yamanashi prefecture, the warehouse is part of a former sake brewery compound. The main building of the compound faces the shopping street, and the warehouse faces a back alley. The restored structure is the only remaining of a longer warehouse that existed along the back alley. Due to its state of decay, the owner decided to partly demolish it, leaving only a portion of the warehouse. The walls of this remaining part of the warehouse were nevertheless severely damaged, and the resulting urban space after the demolition left an unstructured urban void without character. We proposed to re-use the remaining warehouse and the surrounding space, conceiving the whole as a public space open for the local community.

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