SHIP ARCHITECTSが島根県で手掛けた、木の可能性を提示する地域交流の拠点〈Houhill〉

Kakidani-cho, Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture, overlooks Mount Daisen, the majestic peak of the San’in region. Known as a migratory stopover for swans, this area serves as a hub connecting Shimane and Tottori prefectures. Nestled amid the rich natural surroundings—surrounded by rolling hills and the Nogi Plain stretching between them—a cluster of traditional farmhouses with reddish-brown Sekishu-style tile roofs is scattered throughout the landscape, creating a striking scene unique to this region. Blessed with a diverse array of ingredients—from fresh seafood caught in nearby waters to mountain produce harvested from surrounding fields and farms—this region also holds great potential as a setting for mythology where traditions of history, culture, and craftsmanship continue to thrive. This project involves renovating and revitalizing a traditional farmhouse in this area, transforming it into a residence and office that also serves as a showroom for a company specializing in wood-based building materials.

The client is Atom Company, which primarily develops and sells wood-based building materials, with a focus on flooring. Prompted by major societal changes—such as a decline in visitor numbers and the rise of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic—the company was exploring new business models to transition beyond face-to-face sales. As part of this process, determining how to utilize the acquired traditional house became a key challenge. There were two main requests:

1: To shift from a sales model focused on providing traditional products (things) to one aimed at proposing and allowing visitors to experience specific ways of living (experiences). The goal is to create a comprehensive, shared-experience showroom with residential functions, utilizing both physical space and VR experiences.
2: To make the most of the surrounding environment, which is rich in nature, history, and culture, and to serve as a model solution to the regional issue of vacant homes, we would renovate and repurpose a vacant house. By creating a space using the wood-based building materials we handle—a place where people can gather—we aim to establish it as a hub for promoting local industry and disseminating information in the future.

The existing building is a two-story traditional wooden house of unknown original construction date. It stands atop a small hill reached by a steep staircase, offering a view of rice paddies spreading out below and Mount Daisen—an iconic landmark of the area—in the distance. Due to repeated additions and renovations over the years, multiple layers had accumulated in both the floor plan and the cross-section, resulting in a fragmented space with many areas where achieving natural light and ventilation was difficult. On the other hand, the building featured a potential east-west axis—from the former entrance on the east side, through the kitchen, to the former miso storage shed on the west side—despite a hallway separating these areas. Therefore, the plan was to unify this section into a single, open space both in plan and section, establishing it as the building’s central axis in the east-west, north-south, and vertical directions. This would ensure adequate natural light, ventilation, and smooth circulation, while also serving as the hub for both the showroom and the space for welcoming and gathering people. At the same time, by standardizing the previously irregular building axes and appropriately repositioning partition openings and walls to align with them, we ensured the installation of seismic reinforcement walls, clear access to each room, and pathways for natural ventilation.

The earthen-floored hall, which also serves as the entrance, is flush with the existing earthen floor level, allowing visitors to enter and exit with their shoes on. It serves as a gateway to the building’s interior and guides visitors to various areas. Meanwhile, when the doors are opened, the space connects seamlessly with the exterior entrance area on the east side and the planned tea room on the west side, creating a single, unified indoor-outdoor space. Centered around a 6-meter-long table, this area is also designed to accommodate large groups. Starting from this earthen-floored hall, the south side features a guest room with private living quarters suitable for overnight stays. In contrast, the north side includes a gallery corridor with exhibition space for public use and a sauna facility. On the second floor, accessible via a staircase, there is a versatile attic space offering views of Mount Oyama, as well as office space.

While each area features distinct flooring options supplied by Atom Company, the design also creates continuity and expansiveness between the interior and exterior by introducing new outdoor spaces—such as engawa decks and an external entrance—adjacent to each room, aligned with the building’s openings. This approach incorporates the rich rural landscape of the Nogi Plain and the surrounding mountains, including Mount Daisen, into the architectural space. Furthermore, the exterior decks, doors, windows, and louvers—which form key elements of the building’s exterior—make extensive use of the company’s proprietary Thermowood, a carbonized material with a reddish-brown hue, ensuring harmony with the reddish-brown Sekishu-style tile roof and the surrounding landscape. Existing vegetation that had become overgrown was pruned to ensure visibility of the building from the outside and views of the surrounding environment from inside. Visitors can not only tour the facility but also stay overnight to experience cooking, the sauna, and the wood-burning stove; through firsthand experience living there, they can become more familiar with various types of wood and learn about their characteristics, benefits, and appeal.

Serving not only as a living space, showroom, and workspace, but also as the heart of the local community, it has become a place where people of all ages, genders, and nationalities—including customers, residents, local businesses, domestic and international visitors, and participating companies—can gather and connect across boundaries. Furthermore, by connecting the Yasugi headquarters and the Omotesando branch in Tokyo via a VR network, visitors can experience and share not only the building’s interior but also its exterior scenery, enabling the facility to widely showcase the rich nature and culture of Yasugi and Shimane—another key feature of the facility. By fully utilizing the region’s unique scenic characteristics and restoring and renovating traditional Japanese houses, the project aims to help solve the problem of vacant homes. It also serves as a venue for new proposals involving wood-based building materials and various forms of interaction, helping preserve and enhance the area’s scenic value while serving as a hub for promoting local industry and disseminating information.

Above all, we hope that as people savor delicious local seafood and mountain produce—prepared right before their eyes in the open kitchen—paired with sake, while feeling the warmth of the gently flickering fire in the wood-burning stove and listening to the sound of the piano, they will naturally gather, converse, and laugh together. We hope that, before they know it, they will find their hearts at peace here in Yasugi.
(Shin Hirayama, Yumi Saito)

Location: Kakidani-cho, Yasugi-shi, Shimane, Japan
Principal use: Other houses
Client: ATOM Company
Completion: 2024

Architects: SHIP ARCHITECTS
Design team: Shin Hirayama, Yumi Saito
Structural engineer: Kato Structural Design Offie, SOSO
Field Survey Cooperation: Ochiai Laboratory, Tokyo City University
Construction: Ito Wood Company

Photographs: Toshiyuki Yano, Kazumasa Dobashi

Construction type: Renovation
Main structure: Wood
Site area: 525.61m²
Building area: 210.48m²
Total floor area: 298.38m²
Design term: 2022.02-2023.09
Construction term: 2022.06-2024.03