Kure City Ondo Civic Center

Japan Hiroshima Kure
©Mitsumasa Fujitsuka
This community center including a multi-purpose hall and library is located in Ondo on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea.
In consideration of the beautiful scenery of Ondo Island and its many old-style houses with tiled roofs. We covered the community center, which has a terrace like a large traditional engawa roofed veranda facing the sea, with a roof covered with authentic kawara tiles. In front of the building is a roof-tiled pergola, made with translucent versions of traditional roof tiles (hon-gawara) with a semi-circular cross-sectional shape like those used on the roofs of old private houses, and its semi-indoor, semi-outdoor space blocks intense sunlight while warmly welcoming residents.
The exterior walls are a combination of white wall and nankin shitami itabari (long horizontal boards arrayed so their bottom edges overlap the top edges of the boards below them), with the cross-pieces of the board section arranged randomly to create wave-like formations that resonate with the Seto Inland Sea surface, giving this public building a warm and gentle ambience.
Architectural design: Kengo Kuma and Associates
Structural design: Oak Structural Design Office
Facility design: P.T. Morimura and Associates
Constructor: Konoike Construction