Kunihiko Matsuba (TYRANT Inc.) and Kesuke Fukushima (N-LLC) renovated the former Hirozakari Sake Brewery site owned by Nakanojo-machi, in the Gunma Prefecture, Japan, transforming it into a facility for cultural events. A core aspect of the design was the construction of facilities to store and exhibit eleven bird-hunting drums, considered by the Gunma Prefecture as an important tangible folk cultural heritage. The architects renovated the existing warehouse and storage area.
Sake brewery
“A glass of water with a single drop of ink”. Kunihiko Matsuba and Kesuke Fukushima reinterpreted this description in their renovation project of an old sake brewery in Japan.
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- 20 April 2017
- Nakanojo-machi
When the architects arrived, the existing buildings were in terrible conditions, so they had to keep only three of them: the office building (with a steel structure), the storage room (with a stone structure) and the warehouse, built in wood. By its nature, the newly constructed storage/exhibition room does not have any openings on its exterior walls other than those required for the transportation of drums. There is, instead, a tunnel-like passage that runs through the building so that visitors can experience the interior space.
Despite its modern style with no eaves or gables, the building creates a traditional Japanese atmosphere that matches the old warehouse, and other existing buildings. Apart from renovating the old warehouse into an exhibition room, Kunihiko Matsuba designed the washroom, located at the bottom of an old smoke stack. This area is equipped with a stainless steel mirror that bends in the upper half giving back a distorted image of the visitor, providing a sense of surprise.
Hirozakari Sake Brewery, Nakanojo-machi, Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Program: multiuse building
Architects: Kunihiko Matsuba (TYRANT Inc.), Kesuke Fukushima (N-LLC)
Site area: 1,184 sqm
Structural engineering: Tatsumi Terado
Completion: 2016