Kengo Kuma & Associates

With the growth of cities and their scale, public buildings of 20th Century were likely to be driven away to the suburbs, often as isolated concrete boxes in parking lots. We wanted to reverse this flow with Nagaoka Aore. We moved the city hall back to the center of the town and revived a real “heart of town,” which is located in a walking distance from anywhere, working along with people’s everyday life. This is exactly like the city hall historically nurtured in Europe, and embodies the idea of compact city in the environment-oriented age. We adopted the traditional method of “tataki,” and “nakadoma,” which is to function as a meeting point for the community, is no longer the mere concrete box – the space is gently surrounded by placid structure, finished with wood and solar panels.