UNCOVERING THE TRANSPARENCY OF THE GROUND
many layers of time are present in the everchanging natural landscape
but not on asphalt covered city streets
here we have the possibility to let man live
on land that BREATHES

Oshio is a former salt farming community in the Bay of Kobe, Japan. The project proposes sustainable ways of extending the city fabric over the former salt-marshes by running tight (community) streets E-W over a variety of open fields. This is contextual to the growth pattern of the old town, to the Japanese cultural idea of linear public space along the street continuum (not the square, as in Europe), and it relates to the proportions of common agricultural green found in Japanese villages.

Environmentally: The buildings are open/oriented along the N-S axis, the direction of the cooling summer winds. They touch the ground lightly with few columns, coexisting within the marsh. They are covered in green growth. Parking and the mini-mart are located at the end of the street, encouraging people to walk/ride bikes.

Socially: The street is knit across as neighbors engage in collective experiences. On one side of the units is a shared entrance couryard, while on the other side is a service-structural wall which leads out to communal bath-houses floating in the open green.

Visually/personally: The streets curve, heightening perspective interest. The ‘houses’ disintegrate into the landscape, starting with hard and heavy materials at the urban face, becoming lighter and breaking down. Construction possibilities are open-ended/modular. Personal gardens act as mergers between building and large field.

Uoya Hokkei - Famous Places in All the Provinces: The River Sumida in Musashi - woodblock print, Japan, 1834-35.
Utagawa Hiroshige - 53 Stations on the Tokaido: Lake by Hakone - woodblock print, Japan, 1833-34.
collage of site impressions children fisherman concept model: floating 1:2000 site model 1:2000 site model site concept sketch computer site concept diagram of water currents diagram of water currents diagram of water currents diagram of water currents 1:10000 town plan 1:10000 town plan 1:2000 site model Hokkei - woodblock print 1:500 site model 1:500 site model site 1:500 site model section concept sketches 1:200 concept model plan/section concept sketches 1:200 street model 1:200 street model 1:100 sketch model 1:200 street model
Hiroshige - woodblock print 1:100 study model 1:100 site plan 1:100 housing model 1:100 housing model 1:100 housing model 1:50 units model 1:50 units sketch model 1:100 housing plan 1:50 plan comparison to machiya 1:50 units model 1:200 sketch plan 1:50 units model units structure sketch 1:50 units model units structure sketch 1:50 units model 1:50 units model 1:50 units model