Kozakai Kifukan Community Center / Yasuyuki Ito + C+A Coelacanth and Associates

This core community building in the Kozakai district of Toyokawa contains a community center, library, children’s center, and city hall branch office. The design was selected in a 2017 competition. The spatial appeal of a mixed-use buildings such as this comes largely from its handling of common areas. While individual spaces such as the meeting rooms, music studio, event hall, and kitchen are of course also important, it is the natural overflow of sounds, sights, and other hints of activity into the common areas that gives the facility as a whole its vibrancy.