This is a project that confronts the nature of the renewal of land use after a deteriorating rental building facing a shopping street was demolished. The site is in the center of Oita City, on the western edge of the oldest shopping street in the area. The bustle of the past has faded and the arcade has turned into a place that people just pass through to get somewhere else. We received a request from a client who runs a letting agency in the town to use a corner of the site where a car park was going to be built after the building was demolished for a small tenant space and a place for people to go such as a park where they can take a break, in order to bring the bustle back to the area.

We perceived that the presence of tenants who would liven the place up with a shared awareness with the builder was indispensable in creating a space that attracts people and we believed that it was best to determine the tenants in advance of proceeding with the project to create a cooperative space. Further, although the construction is small, it was possible to create multiple shops and various indoor and outdoor spaces for a diverse, lively experience.

The three shops that signed up came to fruition and were given the accessibility and we investigated the careful positioning of fixtures to encourage the movement of customers from one shop to another. The earth that we removed during excavation when demolishing the building was not replenished and the different levels were used to create a closed-in and calm shared space. The space in front of the shops where people can casually drop by and the terrace seats where you can feel the pleasant breeze in the sunlight filtering through the trees enhance the quality of the public space that anyone can visit easily. 

Keeping rainfall in the shopping street to a minimum while breaking up the arcade and buildings delivers a bright and airy shopping street. The front and the back are linked through the buildings. They invite people who are curious to pass through and are an opportunity to casually stop and look.

Several months have passed since construction was completed and you can clearly feel that the flow of people and the type of people who visit this area have changed. This place has reactivated the flow of people and we think that we would like to engage with it positively beyond just the framework of design to give hope to our current unease.

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