An oversized bamboo-clad roof connects the spaces of the Bamboo Gate community center designed by architectural firm Kengo Kuma and Associates in Mabi Reconstruction Disaster Prevention Park, Japan.
The building is designed to frame views of the surrounding area. It consists of two volumes separated by an opening, giving it the shape of a gate.
The community center, named Bamboo Gate, is located in the city of Mabi in Okayama Prefecture, which was damaged by floods in 2018.
The building and the surrounding Mabi Reconstruction Disaster Prevention Park were designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates to provide the city with a disaster-resilient public space.
There is an emergency camp on one side of the building, which is almost entirely covered in bamboo.
The sculptural roof curves from this warehouse to form a column in the center of the community center, which features glass walls and is used as an event space.
The roof towers over both volumes and provides shade for the outdoor area around the building.
“The large bamboo canopies that extend into the surrounding area will be opened as a passageway to protect people from rain and sunlight,” said Kengo Kuma and Associates.
A paved path forms an axis through the opening in the Bamboo Gate and is intended to connect the river, the city and the surrounding mountains.
“A large hole in the middle of the bamboo gate is made of bamboo, a local specialty of Mabi,” said Kengo Kuma and Associates.
“This opening maintains the axis of the city and the river, and through this opening the hustle and bustle of the city and the beautiful nature of the Oda River and the mountains are connected.”
The Japanese architect Kengo Kuma founded his eponymous studio in 1990. Today it has offices in Tokyo, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul.
Other projects the studio has recently completed include a sculptural clay museum in China clad in ceramic tiles and the Saint-Denis Pleyel train station in Paris, which was clad in wooden slats.
Images are courtesy of Kengo Kuma and Associates.