A submerged Japanese library by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP as a ‘tranquil place’ for reading and rest

2023-11-29T11:53:00-05:00

Japan-based Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP has offered a look inside their recently completed Library of the Earth. Situated in the Japanese city of Kisarazu, and completed in April 2022, the library is described by the firm as “the library for the farmers, plowing the fields on sunny days and reading books on rainy days.”

Image credit: Koji Fujii / TOREAL

Located in the corner of an active agricultural site, the scheme saw Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP transform a debris-laced plot into a “lush valley.” At the core of the project is a submerged library designed with the principle that “architecture should not occupy the cultivated soil layer but rather exist humbly under the flourishing of plants and microorganisms in the soil.”

Plan credit: Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Section credit: Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

“The earth has been regarded as the source of all life and a symbol of motherhood,” the team explains. “Our wish was to make a small cleft in the earth and create a tr...

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A submerged Japanese library by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP as a ‘tranquil place’ for reading and rest