The Koshirakura Landscape Workshop is directed by Shin Egashira and is part of the Visiting School program of the AA School of Architecture.
Next to the 300 years old cherry tree, at the corner of the school entrance, stands a new communal size wood burning oven. It was built following our belief that food brings people together. A truck full of sandstones, concrete …
There are some folk stories that have been told for generations in Koshirakura.‘A Monkey Passed’ is the story of a single father who once lived in the village with three daughters. A monkey offered to help him one harvest season, …
At the end of the Maple Tree Festival the god returns to the sky, leaving behind the tree that carried him through the village. In the past the tree would be recycled as firewood for the winter. Nowadays, with less …
The initial project was an experiment in staging narratives. Each team created its own scenario, sequence and spatial setup to accommodate a short story about two people meeting in various locations around the village. Six teams made six rooms for …
In 2000 there was the first international art triennial in Tsumari District made up of seven towns and cities including Kawanishi Town. When the director Fram Kitagawa of Art Front Gallery invited me to …
The Azumaya (summer pavilion, arbour) is the archetype of the traditional garden hut – a refuge from the sun and the rain, a covered space rather than an enclosed interior. Traditional rules govern these small buildings. They should have no …
How big is the village? Where does it begin and end? The size of the village on the official map must be very different from the size of the landscape created in people’s minds. These landscapes cannot be measured in …
Next to the 300 years old cherry tree, at the corner of the school entrance, stands a new communal size wood burning oven. It was built following our belief that food brings people together. A truck full of sandstones, concrete …
Mansuke House is a 250 years old farmhouse. The owner “Mansuke” offered this house for the Workshop with the hope for its creative re-utilization as the family decided to move out to the city. The house survived a powerful earthquake …
Reorganising the workshop after the closure of Kawanishi Town Hall became our agenda in autumn 2005, when Koshirakura as a village expressed its wish to continue the workshop. The most obvious possibility was to approach the city government for funding. …
There are some folk stories that have been told for generations in Koshirakura.‘A Monkey Passed’ is the story of a single father who once lived in the village with three daughters. A monkey offered to help him one harvest season, …
At the end of the Maple Tree Festival the god returns to the sky, leaving behind the tree that carried him through the village. In the past the tree would be recycled as firewood for the winter. Nowadays, with less …
The initial project was an experiment in staging narratives. Each team created its own scenario, sequence and spatial setup to accommodate a short story about two people meeting in various locations around the village. Six teams made six rooms for …
We began by identifying the absent volumes of winter snow as rooms in the summer landscape, individually mapping the volumes by placing our bodies within. As we walked and uncovered these concealed spaces, our excursions became a modified game of …
In 2000 there was the first international art triennial in Tsumari District made up of seven towns and cities including Kawanishi Town. When the director Fram Kitagawa of Art Front Gallery invited me to …
As a complement to the Bus Shelter extension, which is a winter facility, the team decided to build a cooling place for the summer season. Diagonally across the street from the Bus Shelter is an unused pond for spring water. …
In Koshirakura there appears to be no clear line that divides communal and private places, no material borders that define and organise the community as a whole. When paying a visit to the villagers, it is common to walk straight …
The Azumaya (summer pavilion, arbour) is the archetype of the traditional garden hut – a refuge from the sun and the rain, a covered space rather than an enclosed interior. Traditional rules govern these small buildings. They should have no …
Setting out new textural plans over the preliminary layer and positions inscribed during the previous year, the second phase of the land work began by shifting surplus earth from the excavation of the foundations of Azumaya. The materials provided were …
How big is the village? Where does it begin and end? The size of the village on the official map must be very different from the size of the landscape created in people’s minds. These landscapes cannot be measured in …
The workshop began with a reading of the landscape based on its textural details. By extracting geomorphological codes we were able to see the direct link between the forms of the land and the forms of its inhabitation and cultivation …