The site is in Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan. Karuizawa is a very popular place as a mountain resort and for weekend houses. The site is 200 m2 and situated south-western side of the roundabout at the entrance of the old town. It is a two-story bakery and restaurant. The client has been running restaurants inside and outside of Japan, and their original business site is located just across the street from the site.
They have been expanding their business in search of revitalisation of the region. We were asked to come up with a plan that would not only represent the beautiful nature of the local region but also works as a centre of this district. The place was approachable both from the eastern and southern side of it, however it was surrounded by 20-metre-high trees and there was even a stream running tothe west. In order to enjoy such an environment, we conceived of a design with an outside staircase, so called the Forest Walk,that extends from south to north. This Forest Walk goes around the building interacting with the inside and outside and we particularly cared about the sequence from the exterior into the interior.
The floor plan consists of a bakery store at the centre of the building, a bakery and library café on the southern side, and a restaurant with high ceilingonthe northern part of it. Each part of the building is connected to one another by a bridge on the first floor as well and this allows it to accommodate the possible changes of how this venue would be used in the future. The plan features spaces with various characteristics such as height and pergola, both of which are centering around the Forest Walk, for the exterior, and the parts of ceiling with difference in height to the interior. For the appearance we kept the height of pitched roof reasonably not too high and applied the local Japanese larch to the outer wall, so that building blends in the local environment.
