Komonokaen by Tatsuya Kawamoto is a Unique Flower Shop

The low-slung buildings follow the boundaries of the plot to encourage passersby to wander within and “feel as if they were already in the garden”.

“We wanted to create a new landmark space in this town using two sites across the road,” said the studio.

“We wanted to create a relationship that transcended site boundaries, where the two sites across the road become one landscape, and the ‘road’ is treated as if it were within the site.”

To achieve this, the spaces are oriented around a courtyard garden and a 56-metre-long permeable arcade created by sloping eaves that extends across the site’s two rectangular plots.

Alongside the plant shop and cafe, each of the buildings on the two plots contains large open-plan spaces for flowers, the outlines of which are defined by the full-height glass facades and sliding doors.

“The U-shaped facade is made of glass to make it easy for anyone to enter, not only to casually visit the garden, but also to make it accessible from anywhere,” explained the practice.

The arcade is intended to act as an “intermediate area” between the outdoor gardens and the interior, and is hoped to become a “hangout” space where visitors can relax.

Most of the construction was carried out by local builders recruited for the project, with materials including timber salvaged from other buildings and rough stone collected over a period of years.

Towards the end of the project, a piece of wood was repurposed for an ornate sliding door used at one of the shop’s entrances.

An artisan spent six months installing the shop’s roof using approximately 20,000 pieces of natural stone.

“The client and local craftsmen each played a leading role, and over a period of years everyone worked together to create a ‘new landmark for this town’,” said the practice.

Innovative structural techniques were adopted to construct the buildings, including a method dubbed “stacked beam”, developed to avoid using costly timber.

To do this, three beams of shorter lengths with different cross-sections were joined together to form beams spanning 8.5-metre-long spans.

“This ‘stacked beam’ method is not only from the standpoint of lumber distribution, but also has a significant meaning in that local craftsmen produce locally available lumber with their own hands,” said the studio.

Tatsuya Kawamoto + Associates is a Tokyo-based architecture studio led by Tatsuya Kawamoto, Yohei Saito, Yoshitaka Murakami and Eray Tigin.