“Kurashiki Ivy Square” is located midway between the Bikan Historical Area and Kurashiki Civic Hall.
The facility was named “Ivy Square” by combining ivy and a vast square. Its main function is as a hotel (accommodation), but, as its name suggests, the “square” is also used by residents as a passageway and a place to relax.
Alongside Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel, it is one of Kurashiki’s signature hotels, yet it also serves as a place for residents to relax—a curious facility. Behind it were the hopes of Kurashiki residents at the time and the architect who responded to them.
This article examines “Kurashiki Ivy Square” as an architectural work.
The information presented was current when this article was published in May 2024. Please note that it may differ from current information.
What is “Kurashiki Ivy Square”?
“Kurashiki Ivy Square” is a multi-purpose tourism facility created by converting the Kurashiki Spinning Works factory buildings, completed in 1889, into a hotel, restaurants, cultural facilities, and more.
The Kurashiki headquarters factory of the Kurashiki Spinning Works had been inactive for many years after the war. However, calls from Kurashiki City and local residents to preserve and revitalize it grew stronger. Urabe Shizutaro, the architect behind numerous buildings including Ohara Museum of Art (Annex) and Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel, designed the renovation, and construction began in 1973. It was completed the following year, in 1974.
The name “Ivy” comes from the ivy planted on the red-brick exterior walls. The ivy had been planted during the factory era to block the afternoon sun and help regulate the temperature, and it was left in place after the renovation.
The Courtyard Plaza, developed after the renovation, was created by paving the ground with bricks salvaged from demolished brick walls. Today, it is also enjoyed by residents, including as a beer garden in summer.
In 2007, it was designated a “Heritage of Industrial Modernization” by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In 2017, it was designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as one of the constituent cultural properties of “Japan Heritage: A Kurashiki story beginning with a single cotton flower—A textile town woven from Japanese and Western traditions.”
In 2018, the long warehouse in the southwest of the site was demolished and the large-scale banquet venue “Ivy Emerald Hall,” with a capacity of 1,000 people, was added. In 2020, the four accommodation buildings underwent major renovations.
Renovation designed by Kurashiki-born architect Urabe Shizutaro
The renovation was designed by Kurashiki-born architect Urabe Shizutaro.
Ohara Museum of Art (Annex), Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel, Kurashiki Community Center, Kurashiki Civic Hall, Kurashiki City Office Main Building, and many other buildings in Kurashiki were designed by him.
Urabe Shizutaro, who received the “1964 Architectural Institute of Japan Award (Works)” for Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel (completed in 1963), had a style based on “black and white” through Kurashiki Civic Hall (completed in 1972).
However, the aim of building Kurashiki Ivy Square was to preserve and revitalize the Kurashiki Spinning Works factory buildings—in other words, what we now call “renovation”—so it was necessary to make use of the brick factory buildings.
For Urabe Shizutaro, who had worked as a maintenance engineer at Kurashiki Silk Textile Co., Ltd. (now Kuraray), renovation itself may not have been a new challenge, but during the design process he engaged deeply with the brickwork.
For “Kurashiki Ivy Square,” completed as a result, he received the “1974 Architectural Institute of Japan Award (Works)” for the second time in his career.
This marked a major shift in Urabe Shizutaro’s style, from “black and white” to “white and red”. A symbol of this change is the Kurashiki City Office Main Building, completed in 1980.
A tourism and cultural facility created by “renovating” the Kurashiki Spinning Works factory buildings
“Kurashiki Ivy Square” was not built from scratch; it was created by renovating the Kurashiki headquarters factory of the Kurashiki Spinning Works.
In other words, the goal was not only to create a new facility, but also to “preserve the factory buildings.” The site had been a magistrate’s office until the Meiji era, and thereafter played an important role in Kurashiki as a driver of modern industry. It was necessary to pass this history on to future generations.
The plan is said to have had three main objectives.
(1)①To create unique accommodation and cultural facilities intended to
① help people throughout Japan gain a deeper understanding of the culture of Kurashiki and its surrounding area, and
② help them understand, through practical experience, the traditional crafts of Japan suited to Kurashiki(2) To preserve as they are the former factory buildings, which are highly valuable as cultural assets of industry, and the surrounding landscape
(3) To meet the needs of the rapidly increasing number of visitors to Kurashiki
Source: “PROCESS Architecture No. 31: Kurashiki (July 1982),” p. 106
With these points in mind, three things stood out to me about Kurashiki Ivy Square.
Courtyard Plaza, made using salvaged bricks, stone, roof tiles, and other materials
Some may disagree, but I think the facility that best symbolizes Ivy Square is the “Courtyard Plaza.”
It is a space anyone can visit, and in summer it is also used as an event venue, including for a beer garden. As an “accommodation facility,” it may seem unusual to have amenities that people other than guests can use, but the plan’s objectives make this understandable.
The roof over 1,400 square meters in the centre of the factory was removed to create the plaza. Its paving uses bricks, stone, roof tiles, and other materials salvaged from the demolition, reflecting the intention to preserve traces of the factory buildings.
“Preserving the factory buildings,” cherished as a source of Kurashiki pride for contributing to modernization
The Courtyard Plaza was apparently created to bring light and air into the spacious area, while the policy was also to leave the brick outer walls intact.
When construction began in 1973, the factory had been inactive for many years. However, residents cherished it as a source of Kurashiki pride for its contribution to modernization. For this reason, the renovation proceeded with major changes to the interior but few alterations to the exterior.
As a result, almost all of the brick exterior walls were preserved, but over time they no longer met current standards, including seismic standards.
When the Ivy Emerald Hall was completed in 2018, the upper half was dismantled and rebuilt with reclaimed bricks laid as a facing to preserve the exterior appearance. The remaining lower section was reinforced with concrete backing, among other measures (designed by Urabe Design Inc.).
Efforts to preserve the factory architecture continue to this day.
Factory architecture divided into first- and second-floor guest rooms
The accommodation facilities also have distinctive features.
The accommodation wing is now used as a two-story building, but because it was originally a factory, it was a single-story building. The ceiling was apparently too high for guest rooms on one level, but too low for two levels. Fortunately, the north side had a structure known as a “sawtooth roof,” which slopes gently rather than rising vertically.
As a result, guest rooms on two levels were created by lowering the first-floor level and sloping the second-floor ceiling.
In this way, a hotel was created that makes use of the original structure of the spinning mill.
Explore the exterior and interior of Kurashiki Ivy Square
Now, let’s take a look at Kurashiki Ivy Square, focusing on its buildings.
Exterior (from the east main gate)
Exterior (from the west gate)
Plaza
Ivy Gakkan
Ivy Gakkan has retained almost all of its appearance from its days as a spinning mill.
Aibi Red Brick Hall
Aibi Red Brick Hall is registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Part of it was once used as the Kojima Torajiro Memorial Gallery, but today it is used mainly as an event venue.
Hotel
The accommodation wing underwent a major renovation in 2020. The images shown are from after the renovation.
Ivy Emerald Hall (completed in 2018)
Exterior Walls
From the Writer
I knew that Kurashiki Ivy Square had been renovated from what was originally a spinning mill, but I had no idea it contained so many thoughtful details.
The red-brick modern architecture right next to the Bikan Historical Area, where traditional wooden buildings dating back to the Edo period line the streets, may seem out of place at first glance. However, Kurashiki Ivy Square came into being because Kurashiki residents and architects of the time preserved it and worked to make it harmonize with the town.
As an aside, when I hear “the site of a Kurabo factory,” I think of the north exit of JR Kurashiki Station (the area that is now home to Ario Kurashiki, MITSUI OUTLET PARK Kurashiki, and other facilities). There was a factory here too, with brick buildings like those at Kurashiki Ivy Square, but they were demolished after plans were made to build the now-defunct Kurashiki Tivoli Park.
I was around elementary school age at the time, and even as a child I wondered, “Why are they tearing it down?”
The historical context and location are different, so the two cannot be compared outright. However, Kurashiki Ivy Square is the only iconic building that represents the city as a place that once prospered through the textile industry. I felt that, as a resident, we must cherish it and pass on its story.
Please visit and take a closer look at Kurashiki Ivy Square as a work of architecture.
- Article reviewed by: Urabe Design Inc.
- Reference book: PROCESS Architecture No. 31: Kurashiki
- Reference book: The Work of Architect Urabe Shizutaro: From Kurashiki to the World, from Craft to Community Building
- Photography: Sasaki Toshiyuki
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