株式会社R.E.A.D.

• Completion：
  2025
• Principal use：
  Apartment house
• Location：
  Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa
• Total floor area：
  about 570㎡
• Floor：
  3 stories

A Riverside Residential Complex on the Saigawa, Connected by Small Public Spaces

This project is a small-scale residential complex of nine units, located adjacent to the Saigawa Shrine along the Saigawa River, within walking distance from the historic Samurai District and close to Kanazawa Station. The client, a couple who now run a real estate business in Tokyo, was born and raised in the family home that once stood on this site.

In terms of site planning, we restored a former alley on the east side of the property, creating a passage that allows local residents to walk freely through the site and access the river from the rear block. On the street-facing side, instead of maximizing parking spaces, we provided only the minimum required and created a small pocket park with benches oriented toward the river, offering a resting place for neighbors and pedestrians.

The first-floor lounge facing the Saigawa features a fully glazed facade and is designed as a flexible shared space that can also function as a gallery for local artists’ exhibitions. The rooftop is also a shared space, open to residents and the local community, providing a vantage point for watching the Saigawa fireworks festival in summer. Since opening, the lounge has already hosted exhibitions for local artists, and plans are underway to collaborate with the community to bring in food trucks during events like the fireworks festival.

To harmonize with the surrounding historic context, vertical louvers made of domestic cedar were installed on the south elevation along the Saigawa. These louvers express a contemporary interpretation of the townscape of Kanazawa, including its Samurai residences. Their density decreases gradually from the first floor to the upper levels, achieving both privacy and an increasingly open view of the river in a graded manner. Subtle uplighting from the base of the louvers gives order to the elevation and transforms the building into a softly glowing lantern, enriching the nighttime scenery along the river.

I believe architecture has the power to connect people, communities, and the city, and to pass on these relationships to the next generation. It is my hope that this building will make a small yet meaningful contribution to the urban fabric and local community of Kanazawa.