This is a rebuilding plan for the hotel located in the centre of Dogo Onsen, in compliance with the Act for Promotion of Renovation for Earthquake-Resistant Structures which went into effect after the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Dogo Onsen is known as the oldest hot spring district in Japan cultivated in the moderate climate of the Setouchi region, which faces the north of the Shikoku Mountains with steep mountains.

The project began with the construction of a car park. There was about 7m height difference left after the original building was removed. A mechanical parking facility was set up in order to secure the requested number of parking lots utilising the height difference. It looks like an underground car park from one side, but the structure of the three-story parking is visible from the other side.

Furthermore, because of the deformed polygon shape of the site, we decided to arrange buildings in a decentralized layout. This has allowed us design buildings with different floor levels. Theoretically, a building with simple structures is considered economically effective. However, we decided to go for a design of buildings with different floor levels, because we thought the difference would capture the feel of Dogo.

Despite the fact that ryokan or hotels they stay has hot spring baths of their own, most visitors of the hot spring town use the public bath at the Dogo Onsen Honkan. Rather than secluding themselves within their accommodation, they choose to take the trouble to go to bathe at the Honkan. Once in Dogo Onsen town, no one forgets visiting the Honkan. Actually, however, the stroll to the Honkan building simply and surprisingly feels good. We thought we might as well make the visitors experience this feeling as long as possible. In other words, the design of the buildings is intended for visitors to walk outside until the very moment they arrive at their room.

In order to create the experience, we designed the corridors connecting the rooms as an open space with no surrounding walls. A large roof covering the corridor creates a space under the eaves, and this structure allows winds to blow through. Also, some parts of the corridor are sloped. The guests walking through the corridor can feel as though they are walking on the streets of Dogo with slopes. In addition, the layout of the buildings, which are separated and distributed randomly within the premise, creates depth and spaces in between. Visitors will enjoy the changes of scenery walking around the premise.

On the exterior of the building, the walls covered with split cedar boards would strikes you. Louvres made of the same material is used in the buildings’ opening sections facing the garden. The angle of the louvres differs depending on the area. This architectural feature adds a feeling of depth and smoothness with both the roughness and regularity of the material. We used gabled roofs for the all four buildings. The two-story wooden building has a gabled roof with three different inclinations. The shape was designed to imitate the white egret fluttering on the roof top of the Dogo Onsen Honkan. The layers created by the overlapping roofs with different heights and angles remind us of the original landscape of Japan. It feels as though we have been allowed to participate in the creation of the future scenery of Dogo hot spring town with this project which took place at the same time as the major renovation of the Dogo Onsen Honkan.