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Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan
Furuichi and Associates
Photography © ITO PRO.PHOTO
Serene stability: Kuhonji Buddhist
Temple Gate and Ossuary
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"Buddhist
temples were considered old-
fashioned; now with this new ossuary the local
people are showing more interest."
—Yojyu Ushida, Jodo
Priest
"The
project is quite clever in its sectional development
And its planning. With very few minimalist moves,
it tells a great story."
—Charles B.
Rose, AIA
Architect
Furuichi and Associates
Client
Kuhonji Buddhist Temple
Key
Players
Click here to find a complete listing of the people
and products involved in the completion of
this project and an additional photograph.
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The Kuhonji Temple in Nagasaki, Japan,
had a problematic site. Its ossuary (a funerary vault central
to Japanese ancestor worship) had been built on sloping, shored-up
land that was deteriorating. The local authority called for
its demolition. A special committee of the priests and members
of the temple's Jodo sect decided on another scheme: to build
a new and larger ossuary that would form a retaining wall
for the site. By building a 3,000-square-foot structure, the
group was able to expand the ossuary from 100 to 400 tombs,
thus making a profit through the sale of additional tombs.
Since the existing temple had no traditional gate, the new
plan also includes one, with a central stair bisecting the
new complex, and parking slots provided at the bottom. Sacred
ponds behind the ossuary are traversed by a glass bridge that
leads to the temple at the top of the site.
The crisply detailed, poured-in-place
concrete structure, designed by Furuichi and Associates of
Tokyo, not only solved the problem, but proved to be an economic
success. It also generated new interest in the temple from
the neighborhood. As juror Gary Haney, AIA, noted, "It
is a wonderful story about how a simple architectural solution
has stabilized a decaying building—and a religious group."
Another juror, Chee Pearlman, commended the solution for being
executed with such elegance: "We have seen an architect
come in and really make this building an extension of a belief
system."
For more on this project please see the
October 2001 issue of Architectural Record.
The Winners: Chesapeake
Bay | Corning
Museum | Dulwich
Galllery | Kuhonji
Temple Gate | LVMH
Tower | Pedestrian
Bridge | Phillips
Plastics | Saitama
Arena | SAP Headquarters
| Chiller Plant
| Wieden + Kennedy
Headquarters
The Finalists:
Allegheny
Jail | Hansen
Construction | Helmut
Lang Perfumerie | Herman
Miller Showroom | Lincoln
St. Garage | TBWA/Chiat/Day
| U.S. Courthouse
| Westpac Stadium
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