Yoshino Nursery School and Kindergarten
Mutsu is an exceptionally beautiful place. Beauty is found in every nook and cranny of the Shimokita Peninsula so the particular charm of Mutsu is part of its inhabitants? everyday life. The town is charming in many ways, but what I found particularly striking was the shape of the coastline as it sweeps up toward the faraway mountains.
The structure of the building is made entirely of wood. As a building material, wood is both new, and as old as time. In these days of steel frames and reinforced concrete, wood sounds like a cheap alternative at best. Throughout history, however, wooden structures have proved to be remarkably resilient. The famous thousand-year-old buildings in Nara are all made of wood. Photography by © Katsuhisa Kida
With modern-day building techniques, constructing wooden buildings that can withstand almost any earthquake is no longer a dream. But the beauty of wooden structures really shines when their building materials are left exposed. Unlike steel or reinforced concrete, wood is warm and pleasant to the touch. Children will climb wooden pillars because the material feels so nice. They would never do the same with cold steel or concrete. Wooden pillars also age beautifully, absorbing the marks left by hundreds of little hands as if the material itself is recording its own history.
Photography by © Tezuka Architects
The elliptical roof of Yoshino Nursery School, with graceful curves that touch the ground only...