Art Setouchi is a triennale in Japan which takes place over different seasons on the years its held. Frequent themes for the triennale include the Seto Inland Sea and supporting the lifestyles and art of people who live in island communities in Japan.
One such project for the triennale was headed by Tadashi Saito and Atelier NAVE, who partnered with 300 people in the Tohoku island region in 2013 to create 17 bath houses out of rammed earth.
The project was partly to preserve the skills of local builders who had been handing down techniques in the region for generations. Setouchi states that the Shiwaku islands were once known for shipmaking, and that craftspeople in the 18th century branched out to construct beautiful homes and shrines. However, modernization left many of those skills behind. In addition to re-invigorating those skills, the spa project also sought to boost the morale of people who were affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster in 2011.
Saito described the building process to DesignBoom:
“originally, the method of construction was called ‘hanchiku’, which mixes bittern and slaked lime provided by the terrain to improve structural strength. ‘beginning with most primitive thing corresponds to this project aiming at revival of the carpenter technique,’ said saito. the form that surrounded a whirlpool like a coil was shaped by connecting walls made by aspect and ratio.”
Photographs of the project follow.
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Rammed-earth bathhouse project by Tadashi Saito + Atelier NAVE for Art Setouchi.
I visited it while it was still being built, but I hadn’t seen the finished building yet.
Thanks for these pictures, can’t wait to return to Honjima.