“Kurashiki Community Center” is on Honmachi Street, in the heart of Kurashiki’s Bikan Historical Area.
Generally speaking, a community center is a public facility used by local residents for meetings and other activities.
Yet this community center is in the heart of the Bikan Historical Area, which is also a famous tourist destination.
Some people are surprised by this, but it is also an excellent example of “harmony” between the old streetscape of the Edo period and a relatively modern building from the Showa era.
We must cherish old things. But that alone will cause a town to die. A town becomes vibrant when we continue to add the new qualities of each era.
These are the words of Ohara Soichiro, who laid the foundations for the Bikan Historical Area as it is today. The Kurashiki Culture Center, the predecessor of Kurashiki Community Center, was newly built in 1969 using reinforced concrete (RC).
When it was completed, the city library was next door, so it was named the “Kurashiki Culture Center.” In 1983, the library moved to its current location (2-chome, Chuo, Kurashiki City). The center was subsequently renamed “Kurashiki Community Center.”
This article examines “Kurashiki Community Center” as a work of architecture.
The information in this article was current when it was published in March 2022. Please note that it may differ from current information.
About Kurashiki Community Center
Kurashiki Community Center (formerly the Kurashiki Culture Center) opened on October 3, 1969.
The project is said to have been prompted by a donation of 10 million yen to Kurashiki City by Ohara Soichiro in 1953 to build a music library.
The architect who designed it was Shizutaro Urabe, an architect from Kurashiki. Ohara Soichiro, who was involved in the project, is said to have conveyed the following ideas to him:
- “I’d like a design like the Ono family’s three-story storehouse.”
- “How about including a music library?”
The “Ono family’s three-story storehouse” refers to the Ono family’s storehouse that stood on the site of Kurashiki Community Center.
The Ono family was reportedly encouraged to sell the property for use as the Kurashiki Post Office telephone exchange office site. The family moved in 1935, leaving only the three-story storehouse behind. It appears to have been demolished when the Kurashiki Post Office, completed in 1950, was built.
Reference: Walking Kurashiki Through Illustrated Maps, Compact Edition
The gently sloping, spacious “great roof,” the building’s most striking exterior feature, is said to have been designed in response to this request.
And the music library opened at the same time as the center in 1969.
The center strongly reflected the wishes of Ohara Soichiro, who deeply loved Kurashiki and classical music, but he died in 1968, before he could see the building and music library completed.
When completed, it was a new building in the Bikan Historical Area. More than 50 years have passed since then, and together with “Shin-Kojimakan (formerly the Chugoku Bank Kurashiki Honmachi Branch)” across the street, it has become a building that harmonizes with the area.
Here is a brief summary of the building’s history, including renovations.
| Year | Details |
|---|---|
| 1969 | Opened as “Kurashiki City Culture Center” |
| 1983 | The library moved to its current location (2-chome, Chuo, Kurashiki City) in 1983 and became the Central Library. Renamed “Kurashiki Community Center.” |
| 1996 | Renovation work began in 1995 and was completed on February 29, 1997 |
| 2017 | Seismic reinforcement work began in December 2016 and was completed in March 2017 |
| 2022 | Renovation work on the main hall began in November 2021 and was completed in February 2022 |
Its function as a public facility has remained largely unchanged since it opened.
Modern architecture in the heart of the Bikan Historical Area
Kurashiki Community Center faces Honmachi Street, north of the Kurashiki River, where the Ohara Museum of Art and other attractions are located.
In recent years, utility poles have been moved underground, and many new businesses, including cafes in renovated traditional townhouses, have opened. The street is now bustling with people exploring on foot.
In other words, it is right in the middle of a tourist destination, and it is unusual for a public facility like a community center to be located in such a place.
However, I feel that this is what makes Kurashiki distinctive. I believe Kurashiki has become more appealing by not only “preserving” old things, but also incorporating new things and bringing them into harmony.
The street is lined with buildings you might not expect in a town known for its Edo-period storehouses and traditional townhouses, yet they do not feel out of place.
- “Kurashiki latticework,” which would not normally be needed on a reinforced-concrete (RC) building
- Tile cladding
- Windows set back from the walls, and more
Throughout the building, you can sense the care taken to harmonize it with the streetscape.
The windows are particularly striking: from outside, they seem to be set far back.
“Perhaps they wanted to create a sense of depth and shadow,” said Jiro Kawamoto of Urabe Sekkei, the firm founded by Shizutaro Urabe.
Viewed from inside, the windows have a “protruding” section.
This design required extra work during construction, and the protrusions can be inconvenient for users. It seems they were made this way to prioritize the view of the building from outside.
The “great roof,” evoking a large storehouse
Perhaps the most striking feature of Kurashiki Community Center’s exterior is its “great roof.”
The great roof, inspired by the former “Ono family’s three-story storehouse,” is said to have replaced the “wall eaves” developed by Shizutaro Urabe and subsequently become a feature used extensively in Urabe’s architecture.
The symbol mark commemorating the centenary of the Meiji era
When you look at Kurashiki Community Center from outside, a mysterious symbol mark catches your eye.
Can you tell what it is?
It may seem to have something to do with Kurashiki City or the Bikan Historical Area, but it is the “symbol mark commemorating the centenary of the Meiji era.”
It was reportedly created as part of events marking the “centenary of the Meiji era,” and the symbol mark was commonly seen at the time.
The centenary of the Meiji era was in 1968.
Kurashiki Community Center opened the following year, in 1969, and the mark may have been adopted by Shizutaro Urabe because he saw it frequently while the building was being designed and constructed.
The “symbol mark commemorating the centenary of the Meiji era” is also depicted in the main hall.
The building’s interior
Next, let’s go inside the building.
Kurashiki Community Center is a public facility, so in principle anyone can enter and use it, whether they are tourists or local residents.
However, it is primarily used for room rentals, so you cannot enter rooms that are in use.
1st Floor
The lobby has plenty of notices posted, as you would expect at a community center, but the stairs and lighting are so refined that it doesn’t feel like one.
The floor is said to be made from stone sourced in Okayama Prefecture (the Kasaoka Islands’ “Kitagi-shima Island” is famous as an island of stone, but it is unclear whether the stone came from Kitagi-shima).
Newspapers and books are available to read (generally open at all times except on closing days)
When they saw these shoji screens, the person from Urabe Design who was showing us around remarked, “I see!” Do you know what they noticed?
The spaces between the outer windows were deliberately made wider so that the seams between the shoji screens could not be seen from outside.
2nd Floor
Next, we head up to the second floor.
The stair handrail is also made of brass, and has gained character over time.
3rd Floor
We head up to the top floor, the third floor.
You could say it’s “just a staircase,” but don’t you think it has a lovely atmosphere?
I tried taking a photo from a different angle.
I feel that gaining character over the years is a hallmark of Urabe architecture.
When we entered Meeting Room 4 and opened the curtains, everyone exclaimed, “Wow!”
Can you tell what it is?
It is the “Meiji Centennial Commemorative Symbol.” This is what could be seen from outside.
It was not something I had often done, to focus on the “community center building,” but looking closely, I noticed the many thoughtful details.
In the second half of the article, I’ll introduce some things that caught my attention and details I’d like you to notice as I looked around inside the building.
What would you like to know about Kurashiki?
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