Yusuhara Marche

Yusuhara Machino-Eki is a complex combining a market selling local products and a small hotel with 15 rooms. By combining these two different functions through an atrium, a new core facility was born for the town of 3,900 people in the mountains. Yusuhara is widely known as the town along a main road used by Sakamoto Ryoma, a high-minded warrior of the region who contributed to Japan's modernization. The project by Kengo Kuma creates a community hub that serves both locals and visitors, with the market on the ground floor and hotel rooms above. The atrium connects the two functions and provides a gathering space for the town. The building's timber construction and sloping roof reference the traditional architecture of the mountain village, while its modernist composition gives it a contemporary clarity. The project demonstrates how a modest community facility can be both architecturally significant and practically useful, serving as a new heart for a small rural town.