Connecting via park and architecture

In order to create a lush and vibrant center of interaction, the host municipality has divided the area around Himeji Station into three main areas: an entrance zone centered on the plaza before the north exit, a core zone located to the east of the entrance zone, and an event zone. Located in the event zone, Arcrea Himeji is a hub for culture, art and industry in the Harima area, developed in cooperation with the other zones and integrated with the site’s west-side park in order to enhance its attractiveness.

 The covered walkway along the park runs from the station to the Center, providing protection from rain. Flowers and trees associated with Himeji line the walkway, and benches and waterscapes allow visitors to enjoy seasonal scenery on their way to the Center’s second-floor lobby. The lobby, which runs east to west, offers direct access to the small, medium, and grand halls, as well as passage to the adjacent prefectural hospital. Skylights cast nuanced shadows over the lobby’s large brick wall. The lobby overlooks the exhibition hall and studios through windows that allow glimpses of the local activities underway below.

 A synergy of culture, art, and industry

The building comprises an exhibition space, conference rooms, and three halls with the common lobby. On the first floor, a flat plane connects the exhibition hall, studios, dressing rooms, audience corridor, hall stage and loading bay. This allows for a degree of flexibility; halls may be used for lectures, dressing rooms may function as waiting rooms for international conferences, and exhibition spaces can be repurposed for trade fairs, etc. The dressing room area, which would normally be reachable from the rear, was designed to be accessible from the lobby at the front, based on the idea that performers are also fellow citizens and should be granted dignified access to the space. This shortens the line of movement for performers and avoids intersections with loading bay traffic. 

Movable partitions allow the 4,000-square-meter exhibition hall, with its 10-meter-high ceiling, to be divided into three separate areas. Clear glass doors allow the hall to be used jointly with the expansive outdoor exhibition space on the park’s west side. The fourth-floor conference room overlooks the south side rooftop greenery and the north side courtyard, allowing for a ubiquitous feel for the greenery. The south side conference-room floor is aligned at human eye level with Shinkansen (bullet train) passengers visible across the roof, creating a sense of connection with the passing trains.

 Three high-performance multipurpose halls with all-brick interiors

The all-brick interior of the three-tier, 2,010-seat grand hall features acoustic wall paneling and blocks that increase early sound reflection. Its anti-vibration and sound-insulating structure isolates the floor, ceiling, and walls from the structural frame, and enables a high degree of quietness that makes the hall suitable for music concerts and other events. Nine types of spherical, beaded, ceiling-mounted downlights of different color temperatures and sizes recreate the star-filled night sky of October 1609, when Himeji Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was completed.

The medium hall is a multipurpose theater venue with a fan-shaped seating arrangement for easy, immersive viewing of the stage performances. The interior brick walls are three-dimensionally curved to better mix the reflected sounds, creating a uniform acoustic environment across the seating area. The small hall, frequently used by the public for small concerts and events, also features anti-vibration and soundproofing structures. Each of its four walls leans outward by five degrees for better acoustic mixing.

We hope that local citizens will come to embrace this building and its warm, all-brick interior for many years to come, and that its distinctive small, medium, and grand halls will help it to fulfill its role as a hub for cultural events from all over the world.

Project name: Arcrea Himeji (Himeji Culture and Convention Center)

Purpose: Theaters, exhibition halls, conference rooms

Site area (m2): 36,423.08

Total floor area (m2): 28,224,39

Number of floors: +5, -1

Eave height/maximum height (m): 34.1m/34.58m

Main structure: Steel

Completion month/year: February 26, 2021

Client name: Himeji City

Lead architect: Nikken Sekkei Ltd