Enoura Observatory
Kanagawa
2017
2017
Nestled against the steep mountains of the Hakone Outer Rim, the Enoura district of Odawara overlooks Sagami Bay. This site—a hilly area that was once covered with citrus orchards—is where Hiroshi Sugimoto established the Odawara Art Foundation, which aims to produce and promote classical and contemporary performance, preserve and display ancient works of art, and support the development of contemporary art. Enoura Observatory is a complex of structures that were built to embody the foundation’s concept.(Expansion work is ongoing as of 2021.)
The “observatory” part of the name comes from the fact that in ancient times, when humans first acquired consciousness, they sought to work out their place in the grand scheme of things by measuring their relationship to the sky. The complex, whose structures include the Summer Solstice Light-Worship 100-Meter Gallery, the Stone Stage, the Optical Glass Stage, Tea House Uchoten, the Meigetsu Gate, and the reception building, are arranged in conjunction with the movement of the sun and the Earth’s axial tilt.
The different structures incorporate traditional Japanese architectural styles and construction methods to provide an overview of the history of Japanese architecture. Precious archeological relics collected from sites dating from ancient to modern times are arranged throughout the complex. Among the materials used are locally quarried Nebukawa and Komatsu stones, while stones excavated from the defunct Hayakawa quarry and originally destined for the walls of Edo Castle are used as scenic stones in the garden.
The Summer Solstice Light-Worship 100-Meter Gallery extends from west to east and has a long structural wall covered in Oya stone on the south side to block direct sunlight. The north wall, meanwhile,is made of a series of large glass windows arranged side by side with no pillars, providing unobstructed views of the wild woods and primitive structures made of randomly stacked stones. The Oya stones on the south wall are used as they were quarried, with their distinctive peeling and speckled skin, and are made into a dry-stone wall to form part of the building. Other stone walls have been built by stacking up large rocks and stones found on the site in their natural, unprocessed state, exploiting the texture of their skin and arranging them to create an even surface that evokes the manual construction methods of ancient times.
The structures are, of course, contemporary buildings. Considering the rise of 3D CAD and the systemized, integrated construction methods used for most buildings, these details may seem irrational and somewhat roundabout in today’s context. They do, however, represent a probing of the possibilities for expression that resists the rise of uniformity and standardization in architecture. The landscape, which stretches to the north of the 100-Meter Gallery as if it were itself an exhibit, becomes spatially integrated with the buildings. The man-made and the natural share the same space and exist in a state of symbiosis.
The seventy-meter-long Winter Solstice Light-Worship Tunnel was planned when the Enoura Observatory was first conceived. We created a tunnel that thrusts out toward the sea by connecting and extruding six-meter lengths of Cor-Ten steel. Its axis runs west to east. As a result, at the winter solstice, the day which marks both the end and the beginning of the year-long astronomical cycle, the rays of the sun rising from the sea shine straight through the tunnel, from one end to the other.
The site is 100 meters above sea level. Immediately below it was the so-called “spectacles tunnel” of a railway line that wound along the steep coastline until its closure in 1972. The tunnel got its nickname from the many apertures which allowed passengers to catch glimpses of the sea as the train passed through its length. The sea views Sugimoto saw from this tunnel in his childhood became an indelible memory for him. Sagami Bay framed by the opening in the tunnel wall is at the root of everything Sugimoto does, and is also connected to his Seascapes series.
Tomoyuki Sakakida
The “observatory” part of the name comes from the fact that in ancient times, when humans first acquired consciousness, they sought to work out their place in the grand scheme of things by measuring their relationship to the sky. The complex, whose structures include the Summer Solstice Light-Worship 100-Meter Gallery, the Stone Stage, the Optical Glass Stage, Tea House Uchoten, the Meigetsu Gate, and the reception building, are arranged in conjunction with the movement of the sun and the Earth’s axial tilt.
The different structures incorporate traditional Japanese architectural styles and construction methods to provide an overview of the history of Japanese architecture. Precious archeological relics collected from sites dating from ancient to modern times are arranged throughout the complex. Among the materials used are locally quarried Nebukawa and Komatsu stones, while stones excavated from the defunct Hayakawa quarry and originally destined for the walls of Edo Castle are used as scenic stones in the garden.
The Summer Solstice Light-Worship 100-Meter Gallery extends from west to east and has a long structural wall covered in Oya stone on the south side to block direct sunlight. The north wall, meanwhile,is made of a series of large glass windows arranged side by side with no pillars, providing unobstructed views of the wild woods and primitive structures made of randomly stacked stones. The Oya stones on the south wall are used as they were quarried, with their distinctive peeling and speckled skin, and are made into a dry-stone wall to form part of the building. Other stone walls have been built by stacking up large rocks and stones found on the site in their natural, unprocessed state, exploiting the texture of their skin and arranging them to create an even surface that evokes the manual construction methods of ancient times.
The structures are, of course, contemporary buildings. Considering the rise of 3D CAD and the systemized, integrated construction methods used for most buildings, these details may seem irrational and somewhat roundabout in today’s context. They do, however, represent a probing of the possibilities for expression that resists the rise of uniformity and standardization in architecture. The landscape, which stretches to the north of the 100-Meter Gallery as if it were itself an exhibit, becomes spatially integrated with the buildings. The man-made and the natural share the same space and exist in a state of symbiosis.
The seventy-meter-long Winter Solstice Light-Worship Tunnel was planned when the Enoura Observatory was first conceived. We created a tunnel that thrusts out toward the sea by connecting and extruding six-meter lengths of Cor-Ten steel. Its axis runs west to east. As a result, at the winter solstice, the day which marks both the end and the beginning of the year-long astronomical cycle, the rays of the sun rising from the sea shine straight through the tunnel, from one end to the other.
The site is 100 meters above sea level. Immediately below it was the so-called “spectacles tunnel” of a railway line that wound along the steep coastline until its closure in 1972. The tunnel got its nickname from the many apertures which allowed passengers to catch glimpses of the sea as the train passed through its length. The sea views Sugimoto saw from this tunnel in his childhood became an indelible memory for him. Sagami Bay framed by the opening in the tunnel wall is at the root of everything Sugimoto does, and is also connected to his Seascapes series.
Tomoyuki Sakakida
