Yamba Lake Station Maruiwa

This project is one of the initiatives aimed at helping residents of the areas to be submerged by the construction of the Yamba Dam to rebuild their lives and find meaning in life. Our company was responsible for the basic planning, schematic design, working drawings, interior administration, and consulting services supporting the local operating company for the "community development facilities" in the "Kawarayu district" and "Yokokabe district" of the area for approximately six years.
At the Yokokabe Regional Development Facility, we handled not only the facility planning, but also the establishment of the operating body to be set up in the district, attracting participating companies, consulting for restaurants operated by local residents, menu development, and operational supervision of opening equipment, among other things.
The facility's concept design is based on the concept of "inheriting and developing the town's memories," and recreates the former Naganohara Town Hall*, which had served its purpose for over 90 years since its construction and was scheduled for demolition, as a symbol of the district. The design aims to create opportunities for children who will lead the district in the future and tourists who visit to see the town's history, so that the new businesses that operate here will lead to the regeneration, reconstruction, and development of the district.

*The old government building, built in 1929, is a two-story wooden structure with a hipped roof. It was said to be the only wooden government building.

[Social Issues/Customer Issues/Requests]
[Business aspect] With the construction of Yamba Dam, it was required to establish a new business that had no experience in this area as a facility for the residents of the submerged area to rebuild their lives and find purpose in life. . In addition, it was requested that the facility be differentiated from facilities planned in other districts and similar facilities, and to have the ability to attract customers and originality.

[concept design Aspects] Requests included: utilizing the old government building, which holds many people's memories, in some way; considering visibility from the busy national highway to attract visitors; and taking advantage of the view that allows for a distant view of the Yamba Dam and a panoramic view of the lake.

【solution】
[Business aspect] What we emphasized in order to realize the request was, firstly, to make proposals for the feasibility of business ideas by local residents, and secondly, to establish a relationship between the Yokokabe district and the Kawarayu district. The third is to strongly support the establishment of a local management parent company to differentiate the district regional promotion facilities.
In this project, we aimed to "open a restaurant" that everyone in the district had no experience with, and promoted it in a way that was close to the characteristics of the region and the business.
In particular, we had repeated dialogues about ``searching for characteristics of the Yokokabe district'' and ``utilization of local recipes,'' and worked together to develop menus and promote plans that are closely related to the region.
We invited a professional chef for the trial production and tasting event, and supported the local revitalization by raising the awareness of the people in the area, improving the cooking technique, and strengthening the self-reliance.

[concept design Aspects] In transforming the function from a town hall to a lakeside station, we surveyed the existing town hall and decided to recreate it in a modern way while taking care to evoke a sense of nostalgia for the former town hall. We have recreated the retro and distinctive design of the old town hall to create a visual appeal. In addition, by creating open openings facing the Yamba Dam, we have made it one of the best locations with a view among the facilities around the dam lake.
Furthermore, in order to preserve the character of the old government building while ensuring that the new building complies with current regulations, we gave careful consideration to the structural design.

<Our project members> 
[Sales & Project Management] Satoshi Arai, Hitomi Yamamoto
[Planning & Consulting] Kenichi Sakazume, Yuki Shimokuni
[design, layout] NAU: Eiji Kirioka, Nana Kosano