Shinpukuji-temple Reception Hall Extension

2014 -

Less than one year after the temple’s reception hall was completed, it was decided that a small annex for funeral vigils should be added. Because there was little space left on the site, I designed a small volume with a lima-bean-shaped footprint that fit into a triangular space remaining on the west side of the reception hall. The extension is analogous to a side chapel in a Christian church. Although small in scale, it is built of reinforced concrete to prevent potential fires from spreading to the wooden main hall during vigils when incense or candles burn continuously, sometimes unattended. Though it is fundamentally a closed-off space, and it was difficult to balance it against the horizontally expansive reception hall, I sought harmony by covering the curved outer wall of the extension with rough red brick, accentuating the difference in texture and paradoxically achieving balance within the temple as a whole.

location Tatsuno-town, Kamiina-district, Nagano Pref.
principal use funeral vigil room
completion date 2014
total floor area 33m2
structure reinforced concrete
1 story

photos by Takumi Ota