This is a junior high school, combining three former junior high schools, erected on a small hill. We were asked to devise a scheme that would fulfill the introduction of “subject-cluster education system”, in which classes and classrooms are grouped by subject-field, while supporting the students’ autonomy. We questioned how to interpret the program, and in what new ways could the rooms be arranged, ultimately organizing the scheme into seven band-like layers. The layers, which included the art cluster, the “forest plaza”, the nature-life-language cluster, students’ living space, the arcade of light (“wing of wind”), the school administration, the arena and so on, were arranged linearly, and voids and connections to the outside allowed for deeply penetrating sightlines. The character of the building derives from these inter-relations between places.
		Iwadeyama Junior High School (1993-1996) location: Tamatsukuri-gun, Miyagi Prefecture principal use: junior high school site area: 201,811.00m2 building area: 6,757.17m2 total floor area: 10,879.06m2 structure: reinforced concrete, steel frame; 1 basement and 3 stories maximum height: 25,700mm architects: Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop structural engineers: Plus One Structural Des. & Eng. Firm mechanical engineers: DAN Engineering furniture and sign producers: A Works furniture designers: Fumio Enomoto Atelier sign designers: Hiromura Design Office general contractors: Matsumura-Gumi Corporation completion date: March, 1996 next back top