Kengo Kuma tops sculptural community centre with swooping bamboo roof

An oversized, bamboo-clad roof connects the spaces at the Bamboo Gate community centre in the Mabi Reconstruction Disaster Prevention Park, Japan, designed by architecture studio Kengo Kuma and Associates.

Designed to frame views of the surroundings, the building has two volumes separated by an opening to give it a form resembling a gateway.

Named Bamboo Gate, the community centre is located in the town of Mabi in Okayama Prefecture, which was damaged by flooding in 2018.

The building and surrounding Mabi Reconstruction Disaster Prevention Park were designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates to provide a disaster-resilient public space for the town.

One side of the building, which is clad almost entirely in bamboo contains an emergency storage warehouse.

The sculptural roof curves out from this storage warehouse to form a column at the centre of the community centre, which has glass walls and will be used as an events space.

The roof overhangs both volumes to shade the outdoor space around the building.

"The large bamboo eaves that extend out into the surroundings are opened as a breezeway to protect people from the rain and sunlight," said Kengo Kuma and Associates.

A paved path forms an axis through the opening in Bamboo Gate, designed to connect the river, city and surrounding mountains.

"A large hole through the centre of the Bamboo Gate is made of bamboo, a local speciality of Mabi," said Kengo Kuma and Associates.

"This opening receives the axis from the city and the river, and through this opening, the bustle of the city and the beautiful nature of the Oda River and mountains are connected."

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma founded his eponymous studio in 1990. Today, it has offices in Tokyo, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul.

Other projects recently completed by the studio include a sculptural clay museum in China clad in ceramic tiles and the Saint-Denis Pleyel Station in Paris, which was cloaked in wooden louvres.

The images are courtesy of Kengo Kuma and Associates.

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