Office: Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP | ArchDaily

Library in the Earth / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Hana Abdel — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 07:00:00 +0000

The Library for the Farmers. Plowing the fields on sunny days and reading books on rainy days... Library in the Earth is for such people. The site is located in a corner of KURKKU FIELDS, which is operated by an agricultural production corporation. The flat and dry land was sitting on top of a valley filled with construction debris.

Tree Hut on Volcano / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Hana Abdel — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0000

The client couple with a profound love for nature, has always lived as if they were traveling. With a belief that life is sufficient with a minimal space that is closely connected to nature and community, they started a company selling small houses and commissioned us to design the very first one as a model house.

Kamikatsu Zero Waste Center / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Hadir Al Koshta — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 01:00:00 +0000

The town of Kamikatsu in Tokushima Prefecture aims to become a sustainable recycling community and has pledged to produce zero waste. Its recycling rate has already reached 80% by sorting trash into 45 categories, with used items displayed like a store at the recycling center. As mass-production, mass-consumption society shows signs of an impasse, there are high anticipations both at home and abroad for this movement.

Care House of the Wind Chimneys / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Hana Abdel — Tue, 10 May 2022 06:00:00 +0000

The care house invites children with intractable diseases and their families who have difficulties traveling and help them recharge their vitality for their daily lives. Because many families will come prepared that it may be their last trip together, the client, “Dream for Children with Intractable Diseases and Their Families,” desired a place where children can be like children and parents to be like parents instead of an austere facility that treats children as patients and deepens the family connection through the travel experience. Should the child eventually passes away, it will be a place where the family can revisit and spend time quietly to remember. It was also requested for it to be a place to educate people to gain deeper compassion and kindness for others.

Optical Glass House / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Rayen Sagredo — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 15:00:00 +0000

This house is sited among tall buildings in downtown Hiroshima, overlooking a street with many passing cars and trams. To obtain privacy and tranquility in these surroundings, we placed a garden and optical glass façade on the street side of the house. The garden is visible from all rooms, and the serene soundless scenery of the passing cars and trams imparts richness to life in the house. Sunlight from the east, refracting through the glass, creates beautiful light patterns. Rain striking the water-basin skylight manifests water patterns on the entrance floor. Filtered light through the garden trees flickers on the living room floor, and a super lightweight curtain of sputter-coated metal dances in the wind. Although located downtown in a city, the house enables residents to enjoy the changing light and city moods, as the day passes, and live in awareness of the changing seasons.

Sayama Lakeside Cemetery Community Hall / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Karen Valenzuela — Sat, 18 Jul 2020 15:00:00 +0000

This cemetery is located in the lush forests of the Sayama hills. The community hall stands midway on a slope above a city. The site enjoys excellent views, but we sought not to open the building fully to its scenery nor, for that matter, to entirely close it. Rather, we wanted to create a space that, while open, would have a degree of closure. To this end, we gathered the service-related rooms in a central, reinforced-concrete core and arranged the visitor lounge and dining rooms around the core on a circular plan open to the exterior.

Loggia on the shore Guesthouse / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Pilar Caballero — Wed, 13 May 2020 20:00:00 +0000

The horizon in the distance and shells at the feet… This guesthouse is nestled amid two differing views, near and far. The site faces Sagami Bay and is located above a shore where a 100-foot cruiser can be directly brought alongside. We, thus, placed the main entrance on the side facing the ocean, considering the approach by ship just like in Venice.

IROHA Village Factory / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Hana Abdel — Thu, 07 May 2020 20:00:00 +0000

This is a factory of Fujiiya, a long-established maker of the famous momiji manju (maple leaf-shaped Japanese confections) of Hiroshima. We were consulted for the overall plan after designing their store in Miyajima. The site is in an industrial area developed on a reclaimed land—an artificial environment that lacked human scale. The location was dull and could be considered a calamity of the land-use zoning system. We thus proposed a place that would function not just as a factory, but to integrate production with research and processing with consumption. We felt that the concept would tie into the spirit of the confection making, which valued nature and the lifestyles of people while maintaining a close relationship with the community.

Half Cave House / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Pilar Caballero — Tue, 05 May 2020 07:00:00 +0000

The roof plays a significant role for a “tolerance of space” that affirms and accepts others. The expanse of the roof is benevolent, silently inviting people in and watching over them. At the same time, it is physically removed and a bit reticent. We have given much thought to the roof and its ambivalent disposition where it maintains an ample space from a human body yet generously embraces us.

Nasu Tepee / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Daniel Sánchez — Sat, 30 Nov 2019 17:00:00 +0000

The site is located in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, a well-known summer resort. Passing through fields and woodlands, the site lies along the forest path in a grove of mixed trees. Our client is a married couple that enjoys organic farming on the weekends, and their wish was to reserve as much of the environment as possible and to live in the surrounding woods. We avoided large-scale construction and a majority of felling to build the rooms on the few remaining flat surfaces of the sloping ground, as if sewing them together.

Kamikatz Public House / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Fernanda Castro — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Kamikatsu in Tokushima prefecture is committed to zero waste, aiming to become a sustainable recycling society. The town has already attained an 80% recycling rate by sorting its waste into 34 categories. Used items are displayed at the recycle center like a store. As mass-production and mass-consumption society reaching an impasse, the world holds great expectations for this movement.

Birds's Nest Atami / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Rayen Sagredo — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 22:00:00 +0000

I am often struck by the nests that crows build using clothes hangers. Hangers are not only durable but also highly elastic, and they offer more hooks to connect than branches and hence are easier to assemble. Crows, flying deftly across the dichotomy of natural and artificial, are creating a functional and comfortable environment.

Sayama Forest Chapel / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Diego Hernández — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 22:00:00 +0000

Sayama Lakeside Cemetery is open to various religions and denominations. It is located in a nature-rich environment adjacent to the water conservation forest, and the site itself is in front of a deep forest. I envisioned an architecture that reflects on the way of life as it lives by the water conserved by the forest, and eventually returns to this place after death. Thereupon, I found the forest to be the subject of prayer that is mutual to various religions and conceptualized an architecture that prays to the forest while surrounded by trees.

Ribbon Chapel / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Fernanda Castro — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Two Spirals Become One

House C / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Kritiana Ross — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The focus in designing this house was to make it an extension of gardening. The soil at the site consists of a uniformly soft material that covers the surrounding area. People living in this region have been making this soil into mounds, kneading it and firing it into pottery for many centuries. Looking at the soil and touching it with your hands brings about certain emotions. I wanted to give people the opportunity to have this precious experience while living in the home.

Roku Museum / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Victoria King — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

"Bringing Nature, Buildings and People Closer Together"

Dancing Trees, Singing Birds / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Kritiana Ross — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Behavior of Trees