Takamatsu, Japan

Takashi Suo, the founder of the architectural firm SUO has designed a 220-meter-long glass corridor informed by the area’s topography, which winds around and above the site to create a central courtyard and small garden spaces.

The architect was awarded the project following a competition to revitalize the park’s Yashima area, a tourist destination that was popular in the 1970s but has since seen a decline in visitor numbers.

There used to be many buildings for sightseers, but many buildings had been demolished as they fell into disrepair as fewer sightseers came.

Because of the strict regulations in this nationally preserved area, it’s not allowed to make new buildings easily without going through a difficult permit process. So the
the area is in the process of returning to nature.

In such an area, the architect has planned this long building as a part of the park following the shapes and various levels of the site so that it flows in and out of the many different spaces that the site has in order to actualize its potential.

As such, the three-dimensional path building touches the ground and then jumps
up according to the character of the space and its function.

There will be seven small open spaces on the ground determining the shape of the building to make one big park.

People don’t enter a building but a large open space walking through under the elevated part of the building.

As people walk around the building, people will experience places like the viewing point, a floating cafe in the trees, an event space, and exhibition spaces.

The purpose was to design this building as a part of the terrain to be a forward-looking architecture that can naturally be part of its environment.

The initial scope of the project was to find beauty in the continuity of the architecture and the environment.

Project:  Yashima Mountain-top Park
Architects: SUO
Lead Architect: Takashi Suo
Design Team: Takuya Sone and Yoji Komai
Client: Takamatsu City
Photographs: Courtesy of SUO