Located in the small city of Kurosawa along the Sea of Japan, the Maezawa Garden residence, designed by Fumihiko Maki, features a vast natural garden with rolling lawns and mature trees. In one corner of this garden lies a circular open-air theater that integrates harmoniously into the landscape.
The theater incorporates a gently sloping lawn, a circular mound several meters in diameter, and a semi-circular elevated slope with steps made from railway sleepers. Between the lawn slope and the semi-circular high slope sits the circular mound, creating a unique terrain.
These three elements create three distinct theater configurations depending on their combination:
- The first uses the semi-circular elevated slope as seating for the audience, with the circular mound and lawn slope serving as the stage, accommodating around 300 spectators. This layout leverages the expansive lawns and varied terrain to create dynamic effects.
- The second configuration reverses this, using the high slopes and mound as the stage while the lawn slopes serve as audience seating.
- The third, known as the “vineyard” style, uses only the circular earthen mound as the stage, with the remaining areas for the audience. This setup offers a larger capacity and enhanced music space, holding over 1,000 spectators.
This circular theater, designed by our team, was completed in 1989.
The theater was selected as one of the venues for the 2019 Olympic Theatre Festival, an international event hosted in Rika and Kurobe in Japan, as well as St. Petersburg, Russia.
To support this festival, auxiliary facilities were added: a stage lighting framework was installed on the semi-circular sloping roof, and a performers’ dressing room was created behind it by converting a sea freight container.
The audience lounge was designed as a garden pavilion named the “White Flower Pavilion.” Its roof is supported by 17 oak and cedar trees combined with steel columns, providing a tranquil resting place for visitors strolling through the garden.
Louis Kahn once said, “When standing under a large tree and communicating with people, it becomes easier for the surrounding audience to connect.” A tree can foster encounters anywhere in the world, and its presence can give a place a soul.
Visitors resting under the “White Flower Pavilion” experience a profound sense of coexistence with nature—a timeless essence passed down through generations. Nestled on a forested hillside reminiscent of a traditional Shinto shrine, the pavilion blends naturally with its surroundings. Inside, the cool air and dappled light evoke a mythical atmosphere, inviting visitors into a world of imagination.
The Qianze Garden Residence was designed in 1982 by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki for YKK, a global Japanese manufacturer of zippers and building materials.
From a structural engineering perspective, the Baihua Pavilion’s roof is supported by 26 columns, including 17 trees and 9 steel pipes. The steel columns alone resist lateral seismic loads, as the 8-centimeter diameter tree trunks cannot support the area’s maximum snow load of 1500 centimeters.
Initially intended only for the festival event, the pavilion has been embraced by the community, who hope to preserve and continue using it in the coming years.
Project Drawings
▲ General layout plan
▲ Plan view
▲ Watercolor rendering
▲ Rendering
Project Information
Project Type: Landscape Installation, Performing Arts Architecture
Location: Kurosawa City, Japan
Architectural Firm: APL Design Workshop
Area: 170.0 m²
Year: 2019
Photographer: KITAJIMA Toshiharu / Archi Photo
Lead Architect: OHNO, Hidetoshi
Design Team: A.P.L. Design Workshop – OHNO, Hidetoshi; EGUCHI, Shinya; YAMAMOTO, Shinya; IKAI, Yohei; IWATA, Shinichiro
Client: YKK
Equipment Engineering: Sogo Setsubi Consulting Company Limited
Structural Engineering: KONISHI Structural Engineers
Landscape: Kurobe Clean and Green
Contractor: Daiichi Kensetsu
Mechanical and Electrical Contractor: Kurobe M-tech
Garden Contractor: Kurobe Clean and Green
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