In a word, he was an exceptionally personable young man. That was my first impression of the client when we met. In preparation for the design, he gave us a “statement of intent” expressing his strong desire to open his first French restaurant. With a population of approximately 70,000, Anan is located in southeastern Tokushima Prefecture, facing the Kii Channel and the Pacific Ocean. It is a place blessed with an abundance of delicious ingredients, including fresh seafood, vegetables grown in fertile soil, and game. The plan was to create an entirely new, authentic French restaurant in this location, using only local ingredients and drawing on the skills he had honed in Tokyo and France.
That alone would make it a wonderful restaurant, but we proposed a building resembling a mountain lodge, with a quietly striking roof form that would not interfere with its surroundings, which are enveloped by fields and rice paddies. We also made two requests. First, we asked that the charming, rounded-stone retaining step that already crossed the site—something that could have appeared in a Studio Ghibli film—be left intact. Second, rather than dispose of the soil excavated from the fields, we asked that it be piled to a height of approximately one meter along the approach in front of the building, planted with herbs and flowers, and transformed into a place for guests to enjoy.
We named this green mound “Kuruwa.”
Structure and scale: Single-story timber construction
Total floor area: 90 m²
