Thursday, January 10, 2013

Misumi Elementary School


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Misumi, a small town on the Shimane coast between Hamada and Masuda has, like much of rural Japan, been depopulated over the last 60 years with a consequence being that many of the smaller elementary schools have been closed and merged into one central school.

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For the design of their new school the town council chose to go with Shimane-born architect Shin Takamatsu, one of my favorite Japanese architects.

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The school buildings have all the hallmarks of Shin Takamatsu, simple geometric solids like cyclinders, cubes, cones etc. the main building itself is circular.

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Extensive use is also made of refelective pools of water. The school was closed when I visited but I hope to go back and see inide as the centre of the building is a circular pool.

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The school opened in 1997 and sits on top of a hill with great views out over the Japan Sea.

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