Description

Kenyuen Nursing Home and Home for the Elderly is situated at the southernmost point of the Japanese mainland on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Wakayama Regional Park and was designed specifically for residents whose lives revolved around the cycles of nature and rhythm of the seas, for example as farmers or fishermen.

Paying special regard to the particular needs of its residents, Motoyasu Muramatsu has designed a place to retire to “between the ocean and the sky” that responds to the unique topography of the site: a dark and rugged rocky landscape overgrown with blackcurrant bushes and dominated by the breathtaking presence of the ocean. The elegant reduced form of the building contrasts strongly with the wildness of the coastal landscape, lending it a discreet and sculptural quality.

The elongated Z-shaped building, faced with a dark pigmented concrete, is located next to a main road and arranged along a north-south axis between the mountains and the sea. The three storeys of the building are layered like bands of rock strata with a strong horizontality emphasising the extensive nature of the complex. Full-height glazing and the very narrow width of the building allow the world outside to permeate the world within and the nat-ural surroundings, particularly sunlight, are allowed to flood the interior unhindered.

The residents are accordingly able to live out their affinity to the sea and wide expanse of nature throughout the complex and at any time. Combined with a variety of care provisions for improving physical condition – wellness offerings are, for example, standard in Japan – the home hopes to strengthen the residents’ awareness of their own biography through their identification with the landscape. Indeed, staying at Kenyuen has some of the qualities of a rehabilitation, helping elderly people to find a way back into a “normal” way of life.

The attractive location and its good road connection also help to encourage relatives, most of whom live and work in the cities, to visit their family in Kenyuen regularly. A communal area in the central wing is conceived with this in mind and serves as a public area for visitors.

Despite its declared openness, the organisation of spaces within nevertheless caters for the needs of the elderly for peace and quiet, security and stability – and more importantly for the desire to grow old with dignity. The latter in particular cannot be taken for granted as old people, particularly those in need of care, are often subject to invasions of privacy and are wont to disguise their physical impairments. For the architect it was therefore important to create spaces with the fewest possible restrictions that allow residents to forget their predicament. All of the single rooms can be personalised by their occupant and the bed, a key element, is arranged so that residents are woken by the morning sun.

The extensive volume of the building resulting from its Z-shaped form made it possible to create a variety of spaces of different dimensions and degrees of intimacy and public openness. Numerous opportunities for private retreat exist alongside a hierarchical system of semi-public and public communal areas much like in a village, allowing residents to retain their independence and seek out favourite corners. The central wing is the most public area of the building and contains an almost fully-glazed two-storey dining hall with gallery, as well as an extensive outdoor terrace and reception hall on the first floor. Therapy facilities such as a gymnastic room, swimming pool and the in Japan much-loved bathing room are located in areas adjoining the central wing.

In his design for Kenyuen, the architect has managed to turn an almost poetic idea into an architectural and care concept which can ultimately be understood as a eulogy to the power and beauty of nature.

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Originally published in: Eckhard Feddersen, Insa Lüdtke, Living for the Elderly: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2011.