Café Kureon | Kengo Kuma and associates

Café Kureon locates in a park in Toyama city. The restaurant is built in an unusual wooden structure, worthy of being called wood masonry. Low-priced materials (American Pine) in standardized size of section (105mm×105mm) were piled up like stones to create a fluid, maze-looking space, as if a cave is being stretched like a network. Each part is holed with 31mmφ, and steel rod with 30mmφvertically goes through it. Use of adhesives and bolts is kept at the utmost minimum so that the building can be disassembled, moved, or be added and renovated without damaging the material – a kind of “nomadic” structure, taking account of its unique location in the park. We wanted to create a building like a forest by piling up pieces of wood, rather than joining them together. The element we chose was an ordinary and affordable rectangular timber sectioned in 105mm. Without giving any special treatment to the wood, we sought to realize an organic space like a forest, simply by accumulating the timbers. The idea of making an organic and fluid space with small and light materials has been developed through our past projects, such as GC Prostho Museum Research center or Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum. Since the timber is free of special treatment, it can easily go back to its initial state when the building needs to be disassembled and moved. This method takes full advantage of the flexibility of the wooden structure, which is not possible in concrete. As detail, steel rod in 30mmφvertically goes through the accumulated timbers. On top of the timbers, folded (bent) plates are placed as the roof, a simple and inexpensive method that is also convenient for disassembling and moving.