Home-for-All
Kesennuma, 2013
Zhaoyang Architects
Home-for-All in Kesennuma, Japan, is designed and built as a gathering space for a fishing community that severely suffered from the Tsunami in 2011. It is located at Kesennuma's Oya fishing harbour that serves as a centre for the local fishing activities and community life. It's a shelter where fishermen can take a rest, a place where their wives can wait for their husbands to return [with the catch] and sometimes also function as a marketplace.

The elemental geometry of the roof creates a dome-like space underneath. Together with the plywood's (Japanese cypress) materiality, it generates a warm and protective atmosphere. At the same time, the transparency of the supporting structure creates an open and welcoming character. At night, the building glows warmly from within, like a lighthouse, waiting for fishermen to come back from sea.
Notes
Location: Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan