Sayama Lakeside Cemetery Community Hall / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

This cemetery is located in the lush forests of the Sayama hills. The community hall stands midway on a slope above a city. The site enjoys excellent views, but we sought not to open the building fully to its scenery nor, for that matter, to entirely close it. Rather, we wanted to create a space that, while open, would have a degree of closure. To this end, we gathered the service-related rooms in a central, reinforced-concrete core and arranged the visitor lounge and dining rooms around the core on a circular plan open to the exterior.