滋賀県多賀町に設計した、木造平屋２６００平米の公民館のプロジェクトである。地域の木材を最大限活用した、まちづくりの拠点として構想された。公民館はこれまで、学校とはまた違う形で地域の人々の自主的な学びの気持ちを育み、応援する場として地域に愛されてきた。そのように、人と人とが出会い、互いの知恵を伝え学び合う場であることを引き継ぎつつ、未来につながる新しい公民館をつくりたいと考えた。

既存の公民館では決まったメンバーによる貸し室利用が主となっていたが、新しい公民館では、これまで公民館に関わったことのない人も目的がなくとも立ち寄れる場とするために、部屋の中だけでなく共用部に大小様々な居場所をつくった。それぞれの部屋は、庭をはさみながら雁行して配置され、それらをつなぐ廊下のあちこちに、休憩の出来るベンチやおしゃべりが出来るテーブル、小さなキッチンなどが点在している。このような雁行の配置や、廊下による回遊性は、近隣の滋賀の大きな民家にも見られるもので、様々な部屋が廊下や縁側でつながり、あちこちに印象的な光と影の空間が生まれているところや、ところどころに蔵が配置されることで防火の役割を果たしているところ、そして庭との豊かな関係を参照している。町産材利用に関しては、集成材を使わず、地元で調達することのできる製材をベースに計画をしている。そのため、梁せいは３００mmにおさえ、４m以内の製材を金物で継いでいくことで、最大１０m以上のスパンの大空間を実現している。

This project is a 2,600 square meter wooden single-story community center that we designed in Taga. It was envisioned as a town-making hub that fully utilizes local lumber. Up to this point, community centers have existed as a place that nurtures and supports the local people’s self-motivated learning in a manner that differs from schools. Therefore, we wanted to create a community center that will be suitable as a place where people meet each other, exchange wisdom, and learn together.

The main use for the existing community center was rentable rooms used by a fixed group of members of the community. However, since we wanted people who had never used a community center before to wander aimlessly and stop by this new community center, we created various large and small places for people to spend time, not just in rooms, but also in common areas. Each room is placed in a “flying geese” pattern on either side of the garden, and the corridors connecting the rooms are interspersed with benches for resting, tables for conversing, and small kitchens.
This flying geese pattern and the meandering through the corridors can be found in traditional large private houses nearby in Shiga. As various rooms are interconnected by corridors and verandas, impressive spatial moments of light and shade are created here and there. The placement of various storehouses also prevents fires, while maintaining a generous relationship with the garden.

In order to make full use of locally produced building materials, instead of using mass engineered timber, the design was based on materials and sizes that can be procured locally. The depth of the beams was therefore capped at 300mm, and all members were made by connecting timber members no longer than 4m into longer beams to form a large space of over 10m maximum span. More than 2 years were needed to procure the lumber, and as we watched trees being felled in the mountains, hung and carried out by wires, and ultimately processed into lumber, it made a big impression on us. As the trees that were nurtured over tens of years in the mountains, were being used in construction of a building that has the same mountains as its backdrop.

木材の調達には2年以上の時間がかかり、途中山の中に入って木々が切り倒され、ワイヤーで吊られて運び出される様子や、製材される様子を見学したのだが、何十年もの長い時間をかけて山で育って来た材が、山を背後とする建築に使われるということを大変印象的に感じた。かつて建築をつくるということは、このように地元で培われた材料を使うことで、まるでその土地から生えて来たかのような佇まいを自然に獲得していたのだろう。材料を調達することによって生まれる時間はまた、地域の方々と対話し、公民館の在り方をともに考える時間となった。毎月一回、「多賀語ろう会」という名で、年齢も立場も様々な地元の方々、課を越えた役場の職員、町内の博物館・図書館の職員が自主的に参加する会議を３年半に渡って行った。初めは会議だったものが、二年目には多賀の食を伝える「食まつり」というイベントの開催につながり、杉の子作業所さんという障がいのある方の新しい仕事プロジェクトとなり、あるいは町産材を使った町の産業としての家具製作へとつながっていった。公民館が出来る前から、この場をどのように使っていくかということをともに考え、想像を膨らませることのすごさは、オープニングイベントの日の場の使われ方にすでに現れていたように思う。この日、多賀町ではいまだかつて見たことのないくらい大勢の人が公民館を訪れ、語ろう会のお母さんたちによる一日限定のカフェが運営され、高校生と小学生がボランティアで場を仕切り、ホールでは１５分刻みでたくさんの団体が発表をし、地元の大学生が主催する写真展示や、杉の子作業所さんの展示が廊下のあちこちで開催され、児童室では子どもたちが読み聞かせを聞くことが出来る、という、これからの公民館で起こったらいいなという未来の姿が、一日にぎゅっと詰め込まれた夢のような一日が、町の人々の力によって現れた。

The time that it took to procure the materials also served as time to speak with people in the region and think about how the community center should be. For 3 and a half years, we held a monthly meeting called the "Let's Talk About Taga Meeting," in which local people of various ages and positions, town office members across departments, and employees of museums and libraries in the town voluntarily participated. Although it was a meeting at first, it led to a series of events and projects. For instance the hosting of an event called the "Food Festival" to share the cuisine of Taga in its second year, a new work project called the “Horsetail Shoot Workshop” for the disabled, and furniture fabrication using locally produced materials as a local industry. We believe the fact that we sat down together before the completion of the community center and used our imagination to think about how it will be used, became evidently how the space was used during the opening event.

On this day of the opening, a mass of people, possibly the most people the town of Taga had ever seen, visited the community center. the mothers from the Let's Speak About Taga Meeting ran a cafe for the day, volunteers from high school and elementary school took charge of the event, many organizations gave 15-minute presentations in the hall, local university students hosted a photo exhibition, the works from the Horsetail Shoot Workshop were displayed throughout the corridors, and storytelling was held for children in the nursery. Thanks to the efforts of the people in the town, the ideal vision of the community center was concentratedly realized in one dream-like day.