Noël House and Restaurant, Yamaguchi, Japan, 2013-in progress
My first project was called Table for a Restaurant, a 50-square-metre interior in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The client was the owner of a French-Italian restaurant who requested a space in his hometown that would be “suitable for a new contemporary cuisine”. Back then we were both in our 20s. Just as he was pursuing something new with his small restaurant, I wanted to pursue something new in architecture. Although it was only an interior design project, I wanted to think about it as a piece of architecture. In the small existing space, I arranged five thin rectangular tables made of lightweight steel. The rest of the interior was finished as plainly as possible. Upon completion of the work, the owner said to me, “If I ever open another restaurant, I’ll be calling on you to design it.”
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Noël House and Restaurant, Yamaguchi, Japan, 2013-in progress
A few years ago, as promised he invited me to design his new restaurant that also included his residence. The site was near the first restaurant, located in a pleasant context on higher ground adjacent to fields and a copse extending beyond. The area of about 1,000 square metres was spacious enough to create several parking spaces. Even though I hadn’t seen him for a long time, he looked much the same, except for his greying hair and the fact that he now had a family. By that time he had also shifted his focus to authentic French cuisine. He explained how much care he takes in the selection of ingredients and wines, revealing how seriously he takes his work.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Noël House and Restaurant, Yamaguchi, Japan, 2013-in progress
Among his few requests, he emphasised his wish for an “architecture that feels as heavy as possible, and that acquires a patina over time, something that embraces the roughness of nature. Authentic cuisine requires a space like that.” I then sensed there had been a significant change in his mindset: eating in an old wooden izakaya certainly lends more charm and depth to the food compared to eating in a new commercial building.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Noël House and Restaurant, Yamaguchi, Japan, 2013-in progress
In addition, he aspired to have space to cook more freely, and for people to eat more freely. He not only wanted to be able to serve food to his visiting acquaintances in the restaurant, but also in his living room, and sometimes even have them stay overnight.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Noël House and Restaurant, Yamaguchi, Japan, 2013-in progress
As a result, I had to think about how to conceive a house starting from elements of uncertainty. Not only should its charm increase over time, but the degradation and stains that accumulate over time should also be included in the design. here should be no clear boundary between the two functions, with the liveliness of the restaurant and everyday domestic life flowing into a space that felt as heavy as a cave. To transpose this demand into a building, I returned to the fundamentals of the construction process.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Noël House and Restaurant, Yamaguchi, Japan, 2013-in progress
Generally, a building site involves numerous trades, which makes it necessary to organise every component and bring everything together harmoniously. On this occasion I decided to do the opposite, by giving a few artisans the image of what I had in mind. Thanks to their expert skills, I was sure I would be able to incorporate the unanticipated discrepancies on site. The forms of the volumes were defined by numerous study models of the client’s lifestyle.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Noël House and Restaurant, Yamaguchi, Japan, 2013-in progress
The final model was then scanned and turned into 3D coordinate data, which was subsequently input into a total station (an optical surveying instrument), and the artisans dug the holes by hand, checking the positions on site via an iPad. In this phase, the ground revealed different colours and grains – red, green and grey soil, and strata with gravel or rocks. Grass began to grow in some spots and a few small subsidences occurred, just as would happen in a natural landscape.
Courtesy Junya.Ishigami+Associates
Noël House and Restaurant, Yamaguchi, Japan, 2013-in progress
These occurrences are imprinted onto the concrete. Once all of the holes had been dug out and connected, the concrete was poured using the excavations as a mould. From now until the summer, we will be excavating the soil away from the hardened structure and the windows will be glazed to define the interiors. The spirit of this concrete is something other than architecture, but soon that is precisely what it will become.
(Junya Ishigami)