Hotel of Yamazoe / OHArchitecture
Text description provided by the architects. Yamazoe-Village is in an area of Okuyamato, Nara-prefecture. There’s nothing here, not even a shop, a tourist place, and a convenience store. The hotel of Yamazoe is planned here, where is only natural. A client is a Sushi maker in Nara-prefecture. They bought Kominka in Yamazoe-Village and have been looking for a new launch of the lodging business.
A dish, we always eat something without thinking too much of it, made through the involvement of many people. For example, the chef who creates the food, the person who comes up with the cooking method and technique, the producer who makes the ingredients, the person who makes the tableware to serve the food, the person who makes the tools to create the food, the person who shares the food, the person who cares for the scenery seen from the window, and so on. We can have fun “A dish” by those many people, only we don’t realize it.
Yamazoe-Village is really nothing but has also everything. There are fields to make food, studious to make potteries if you walk a little, and majestic landscapes spreading your vision. We must visit each place by ourselves. Honestly, it’s so hard. But the thing makes us face our life, what we can’t be aware of. The hotel planned for us, can re-find such an ordinary life. It consists of a main building (including reception) and lodges.
In ordinary, hotels tend to be closed in search of privacy, but we thought to take in outside (Natural environment and climate) proactively by opening a part of the hotel on purpose. Each building was reduced and made spaces of semi-public in indoor looks like the outside. In there, people from the village who brought us food would stop by, a pleasant breeze would flow in, and a beautiful sunrise would shine through. Visitors can feel Yamazoe-Village in close while being inside a room.
A lobby of the main building is planned as a continuation of the approach. The center put a counter kitchen; we can enjoy while to see moving the chef. From there, head to each room, the landscape of Yamazoe spreads out before your eyes. End a day at sunset and wake up at sunrise. The hotel completed to be able to experience such a primitive environment.