Hidden Traces of Rice Terraces Hot Spring-Izura
Sep 20, 2024Hidden Traces of Rice Terraces Hot Spring-Izura, Kitaibaraki, Ibaraki
Hidden Traces of Rice Terraces Hot Spring-Izura
In this place of Izura where Tenshin Okakura lived in his later years, we designed an experience in which people become a part of the art, including the lodging experience.
The area includes cottages, hot springs, and glamping tents.
The site was initially a ruin of rice terraces hidden by the mountains and forest. To proceed with construction, we had to clear the land while preserving as much vegetation as possible, then bring in soil to form new ground. The new terrain was meticulously designed using three-dimensional plans of mountains in varying sizes, to create integration with the surrounding landscape. We then created a path that would weave between the mountains for people to get to their cottages and tents.
Upon arrival, guests are met not with a reception area, but with two large mountains.
The mountains serve as a sort of boundary, like a torii gate to a shrine, and when you pass between the mountains and reach the top, you can see the grounds on which two cottages are located. This is the first image all guests will encounter. The cottages have triangular roofs and are recognizable as icons of a home, blending in with the shape of the mountains.
The cottages have two floors, with the bedroom and a special space on the second floor. It is a place where, by day, the trees illuminated by sunlight endlessly bring the beautiful forest indoors. At night, the forest, transformed into art by teamLab, is endlessly drawn inside.
In this infinite nature, visitors can relax with a cup of tea, take a nap, and have extraordinary experiences in a private space. This space can be viewed from the bedroom on the second floor, from which it looks like a painting cut into a triangle.
Then, passing by the cottages and through the dark cedar forest that has existed from before, you see the building of the hot springs. This building has a quadrangular prism with a triangular prism on top, and its sides look like a black wall. This was intended to create the impression of a hole in the wall by contrasting the house-shaped cottages. Through the opening in the wall, the terraced pond where the artwork is located can be seen like a painting. As you approach this opening, you see the reception desk for the lodging.
A hot spring bath is attached to the reception.
There is an indoor bath, and an outside bath that can be entered in a bathing suit. Usually, two open-air baths are built separately for men and women to be able to enter naked, but that would require a privacy fence. We wanted to make an open-air bath that is connected to the pond and has a sense of openness, so while it is slightly inconvenient we made a unisex bath that is entered in bathing suits in order to eliminate the need of a fence.
The baths are therefore integrated with the pond, and at night, visitors can soak in the hot springs in continuity with the lamps floating on the pond.
The plants planted on the site are the same type and species as those growing in the existing forest, based on a survey of the vegetation in the forest. By doing so, we thought that the seeds from the forest would take root in the new ground, and the forest and the site would become one over a long period of time. We also used stones from Izura to create benches for sitting, steps for small steps, and signs - all made from stones.
Visitors can arrive during the day and spend time watching the artwork of the pond, framed by the cut-out opening, as it gradually transitions into night, and experience the forest of art at night. The final artwork is a view of lamps floating on the remains of terraced rice fields. This is the same view as the one first encountered from the upstream section of the rice terrace remains. Visitors can then bathe in the open-air bath connected to the site, becoming one with the art as they view the lamps floating in the rice terraces. Then, in the cottage that brings in the forest of art that was experienced in the forest outside, guests can have tea, conversations, spend time, and greet the morning.
All of these experiences are part of the new extraordinary art experience that we have attempted to create, in which everyday experiences become part of the art experience.
Hidden Traces of Rice Terraces Hot Spring-Izura
Sep 20, 2024
Hidden Traces of Rice Terraces Hot Spring-Izura, Kitaibaraki, Ibaraki
Hidden Traces of Rice Terraces Hot Spring-Izura
In this place of Izura where Tenshin Okakura lived in his later years, we designed an experience in which people become a part of the art, including the lodging experience.
The area includes cottages, hot springs, and glamping tents.
The site was initially a ruin of rice terraces hidden by the mountains and forest. To proceed with construction, we had to clear the land while preserving as much vegetation as possible, then bring in soil to form new ground. The new terrain was meticulously designed using three-dimensional plans of mountains in varying sizes, to create integration with the surrounding landscape. We then created a path that would weave between the mountains for people to get to their cottages and tents.
Upon arrival, guests are met not with a reception area, but with two large mountains.
The mountains serve as a sort of boundary, like a torii gate to a shrine, and when you pass between the mountains and reach the top, you can see the grounds on which two cottages are located. This is the first image all guests will encounter. The cottages have triangular roofs and are recognizable as icons of a home, blending in with the shape of the mountains.
The cottages have two floors, with the bedroom and a special space on the second floor. It is a place where, by day, the trees illuminated by sunlight endlessly bring the beautiful forest indoors. At night, the forest, transformed into art by teamLab, is endlessly drawn inside.
In this infinite nature, visitors can relax with a cup of tea, take a nap, and have extraordinary experiences in a private space. This space can be viewed from the bedroom on the second floor, from which it looks like a painting cut into a triangle.
Then, passing by the cottages and through the dark cedar forest that has existed from before, you see the building of the hot springs. This building has a quadrangular prism with a triangular prism on top, and its sides look like a black wall. This was intended to create the impression of a hole in the wall by contrasting the house-shaped cottages. Through the opening in the wall, the terraced pond where the artwork is located can be seen like a painting. As you approach this opening, you see the reception desk for the lodging.
A hot spring bath is attached to the reception.
There is an indoor bath, and an outside bath that can be entered in a bathing suit. Usually, two open-air baths are built separately for men and women to be able to enter naked, but that would require a privacy fence. We wanted to make an open-air bath that is connected to the pond and has a sense of openness, so while it is slightly inconvenient we made a unisex bath that is entered in bathing suits in order to eliminate the need of a fence.
The baths are therefore integrated with the pond, and at night, visitors can soak in the hot springs in continuity with the lamps floating on the pond.
The plants planted on the site are the same type and species as those growing in the existing forest, based on a survey of the vegetation in the forest. By doing so, we thought that the seeds from the forest would take root in the new ground, and the forest and the site would become one over a long period of time. We also used stones from Izura to create benches for sitting, steps for small steps, and signs - all made from stones.
Visitors can arrive during the day and spend time watching the artwork of the pond, framed by the cut-out opening, as it gradually transitions into night, and experience the forest of art at night. The final artwork is a view of lamps floating on the remains of terraced rice fields. This is the same view as the one first encountered from the upstream section of the rice terrace remains. Visitors can then bathe in the open-air bath connected to the site, becoming one with the art as they view the lamps floating in the rice terraces. Then, in the cottage that brings in the forest of art that was experienced in the forest outside, guests can have tea, conversations, spend time, and greet the morning.
All of these experiences are part of the new extraordinary art experience that we have attempted to create, in which everyday experiences become part of the art experience.
INFORMATION
Press kit for mediaTitle
Hidden Traces of Rice Terraces Hot Spring-Izura
Completion
Sep 20, 2024
Site area
42,248.84 m2
Building area
Cottage:51.54 m2 Hot Spring:177.22 m2
Gross floor area
Cottage:101.64 m2 Hot Spring:169.76 m2
Structure
Wood
Location
2132, Otsu-chou, Kitaibaraki-shi, Ibaraki
MAPClient
Sohki Co.,Itd.
Official Website
ABOUT US
teamLab Architects
An architectural group that explores new architecture and space, cities for a new era through digital technology, art, nature and people, biology, and that crosses architectural boundaries.
Shogo Kawata (河田将吾)
Representative of teamLab Architects, an architectural group that explores new architecture and space, cities for a new era through digital technology, art, nature and people, biology, and that crosses architectural boundaries.