On the vast lawn of the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) [LINK> http://www.ycam.jp/en/] forecourt, Megumi Matsubara & Hiroi Ariyama of the Japanese architecture firm Assistant [LINK> http://www.withassistant.net] designed two pavilions where children can play over the summer.
The project was commissioned by YCAM to celebrate their 10th anniversary [LINK> http://10th.ycam.jp/term1/488/] and made in collaboration with the YCAM's educational program team. YCAM is well known for introducing the most cutting-edge in the spheres of Arts and Media in Japan and abroad, serving as an artistic platform for sharing IT-based media technology, theatre and dance performances, art exhibitions, film screenings, sound-related events, workshops and lectures.
The pavilions each feature a circular garden in which a variety of elements commingle; the sun, the earth, the air, visual images and sound. The pavilions encourage children to leave the media environment in the YCAM building and interact with the immediate surroundings, including natural light, wind, touching directly soil and plants, feeling the sky and birds mixed with the high-tech media technology. The boundaries between children’s experiences inside the pavilions and the ones induced by playground tools are blurred. The architecture and the playground equipments are given an equal weight and together define the whole environment.
Project name Korogaru Pavilion
Project URL http://10th.ycam.jp/term1/488/
Address 7-7 Nakazonocho Yamaguchi-shi Yamaguchi Japan
Architects Megumi Matsubara & Hiroi Ariyama / Assistant
Playground equipment designers Daiya Aida, Kiyoshi Suganuma (YCAM)
Client Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM)
Built area 407.27m2
Maximum building height 4.01m
Structure Wood 1-story building
Structural engineer Tokyo University of the Arts, Kanada Structural Design Lab / Mitsuhiro Kanada & Miki Ozeki
Purpose Summer indoor play park equipped with media art (temporary building)
Construction period 15 May – 25 July, 2013
Exhibition period 26 July – 1 Dec, 2013
Photo credit Courtesy of Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [© YCAM]