The Fukumasu-minami Community Center is on the site of an old hamlet that maintains community with a focus on agriculture. The site chosen for the reconstruction of the community center is next to the Fukumasu-cho Producers Cooperative garage, newly built for the co-management of agriculture, and where they keep their agricultural equipment.
The site is located on the outskirts of the hamlet, surrounded by rural scenery, with the Hakusan mountain range visible above the Hokuriku Expressway to the southeast. The land is flat, and there is a continuous southwesterly breeze from the sea. There is a biotope area behind the garage that is used mainly as a learning space for the Midori and Yasuhara elementary schools.
The Fukumasu-minami Community Center has been widely used for production activities focusing particularly on agriculture, children’s learning activities, the monthly gathering of an elderly citizens’ group, disaster-prevention activities for the hamlet, and social gatherings for locals. The four spaces of the meeting room, toilet, kitchen, and fire pump equipment cabinet, along with two walls, are laid out to resemble a hamlet, and various meanings have been given to it through their connection to the central space. This has created a coherent space and scenery where the inside and outside are integrated with people’s lives.
Our intention was to create a community center that reflects, via a contemporary design, the integration of people and architecture seen in the old rural hamlet and its houses.