Sayama Lakeside Cemetery Community Hall

This cemetery is located in the lush forests of the Sayama hills. The community hall stands midway on a slope above the city. We gathered the service-related rooms in a central, reinforced-concrete core and arranged the visitor lounge and dining rooms around the core on a circular plan open to the exterior. Surrounding the building with a tranquil reflecting pool, resonant with nearby Lake Sayama, we located the parking and other miscellaneous functions out of view.

When people were in sorrow that couldn't be comforted by words, they thought what they could do in the space, and aimed to build an architecture that gently supports their behavior. The site is in the midst of a beautiful landscape, but the eave is deliberately 1.35m above the inner floor, in line with the eyes of people who tend to get depressed. A bench that rests your tired mind and body awaits you as you walk into nature and the window by being invited to the lower eaves. If you sit down, you can see the scenery far away. Beyond the eaves, you can think of distant memories beyond the Sayama forest, hills and cityscape. Speaking with the deceased begins in a quiet time. In response, changes in the wind, clouds, and sunlight appear above the head as water ripples and sunbeams, reverberating in the room like a message from an individual.

There was no downlight in the break room, and the illuminance constantly changed depending on the reflected light from the basin and the sunlight from the high side. I wanted to express the ever-changing beauty of the world for those who live in the future while thinking about the deceased and talking with the deceased.