School as a Visual Aid

Two years ago, in the town of Rikubetsu (Rikubetsu-cho), located in Hokkaido, the second largest island of Japan was completed the construction of an elementary school (Rikubetsu Elementary School). The nature of this place is very beautiful, but the climate is rather harsh. Therefore, it was decided to build the school using local wood, which retains heat in winter and keeps premises cool in summer. The single-story building volume harmonizes with other buildings in the vicinity. An undulating roof creates visual continuity with the surrounding hills.

Rikubetsu-cho, a small town in central Hokkaido, with an estimated population of about 3000 people, is the coldest town in Japan, where temperature reaches -30°C in long winter, +35°C in short summer. In such a severe climate in buildings and structures priority is given to traditional technologies and materials. The construction incorporates various features, such as use of natural energy for the environmental load reduction, in a suitable way for this severe climate of ±70°C a year.

There was existing old building in the site, which was under use till the new building completed. The site area was limited, so arrangement of new buildings had to avoid the existing building. We separated the building into 2 parts by its function, and gave the different special features for each part. One is the curving roof of wood lattice beams in multipurpose hall, and the other is the liner and open space of rhythmical wooden beams.

The simple shape structure is organically fit into the environment. The building scale which was created by dividing makes the wood construction more dynamic and simple.

Various use of local wood in construction activates the local industry, and gives people warm feeling for their home school. External cladding was designed with a warm dark grey base combined with natural wood to harmonize with surrounding buildings and stand out amid the summer green and the snow in winter. Indoors, a multipurpose hall for all kinds of indoor activities forms the core of the plan, with the curved beam roof structure overhead softly enveloping the children’s activities. The classrooms and workspaces were also given a wood structure, so that sunlight reflecting on the wood surfaces creates a warm living environment for the school.

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Materials provided by Nikken Sekkei Photos by Koji Sakai (Grayt one photographs)