Located in Nishijin, Kyoto, JURAKURO is a mixed-use project that include both residential apartment and a hotel. As the name indicates, this building is located in the site of Old Castle ‘JURAKU DAI’. Street in this area used to be lined with Machiya (Kyoto’s Old townhouse), which devoted to traditional waving industry.
Nowadays, many of Machiya are disappearing under fast urban redevelopment. Although the façade of new apartment buildings follows the landscape regulation, it doesn’t essentially contribute to locals and surrounding scenery. Our aim of this project is to contribute to local neighborhood and create new Kyoto’s landscape while embracing its historical background.
Open Space in the Town
Besides its major function as a rental apartment, JURAKURO includes facilities for short-stay guestroom and café space on the ground floor where many and unspecified persons can be accommodated.
Semi-outdoor space (Piloti) and the grass parking lots provide multi-functional open space for residents, locals and hotel guest to organize local events.
DOMA; a place interconnect indoor and outdoor, public and private
DOMA is one of important elements in Kyoto’s traditional house. It provides access with light and wind in an elongated closed space, and also allows walking through inside of house with one’s shoes on and connects to the outdoor space.
After passing through Noren (fabric wall hanging) at the entrance, you may see the ‘DOMA’ that spreaditself up to the back of the building and each flat is connecting to this corridor. This space provides a variety of functions and purposes to JURAKURO, from local events to casual community gathering. Each flat also enjoys Doma space attached to the inner garden where residents can experience this unique space while in the room.
Customized Rental Apartment
Each flat is composed of three rooms -Doma, Main room and a bathroom. The ductworks are exposed and the partition between main room and the bathroom made with bare concrete block. Usually rental apartment is furnished as if their lifestyle is expected to be similar to others. In fact, no residents are the same when it comes to preferred styles or designs, which result in a billion different outcomes and possibilities for custom furniture. We, therefore, ask each residentto customize their own furniture depending on their lifestyle and needs. By offering this service with consistent support of designing and making will enable residents to discover their unique lifestyle. This as a result encouragesconnecting to the locals.
The city’s landscape
The finish of exterior wall of JURAKURO is a black. You may find it unusual to see the black building standing in the small town, however this color is originated from the old castle ‘JURAKU DAI’. As a memory of this site, we built a modern black architecture where JURAKUDAI is once a symbol of prosperity.
