Rebuilding project for Gallery Anne Annex, run by Anne Matsumoto, which has a 135-year history.

Gallery Anne Annex is located in Ichiban shopping street, one of the seven shopping streets of Hotomeki shopping street, just west of Nishitetsu Kurume Station. Before the reconstruction, the shop was a specialty shop focusing on apparel, but this time, in addition to the specialty shop, it became a four-floor complex with a kitchen space for cooking classes, a studio function for yoga and other activities, a photo studio and a rental space, taking into account the local character and customer base. In addition, the land of the neighbouring shop was also purchased as it closed during the planning process. The newly added land was planned to be flexible and open, creating an open space with a view of the sky in a shopping street crowded with facades of shops. Various events are planned for the future, with the aim of creating new connections and becoming a place where communities can come together.

The city of Kurume in Fukuoka Prefecture, where the project is located, is covered by the Chikugo River, the largest river in Kyushu, and the nature-rich Chikugo Plain created by its alluvial action. The development of the Chikugo River basin has also led to a prosperous port downstream, and the area has a long history as a major distribution centre, dating back to the Jomon period.

Based on this unique regional character and historical background, the shop space on the first and second floors is consciously structured to resemble the Chikugo River and the Chikugo Plain.

The symbolic staircase connecting the floors makes extensive use of curves to create a vertical connection from upstream (2F) to midstream (1.5F) and downstream (1F), like the flow of river water. The large sales areas on each floor are spread out like a plain, creating a smooth circulation line, guiding visitors to the first and second floors, and creating a horizontal flow as well.

We believe that understanding the local context and historical background may be a starting point for design and it leads to a durable design as a unique characteristic.

Gallery Anne Annex is also located in the centre of Ichiban shopping street where many shops and businesses are closed. The Ikemachi River, which runs parallel to the shopping street, has a history of water quality deterioration due to urbanisation in the basin about 40 years ago, so water was pumped from the Chikugo River to improve water quality. It is hoped that Gallery Anne Annex will play the role of a pumping pump and help to create a good flow in the shopping arcade.

The completion of one building is not the end of the process, but the places, connections, experiments and discoveries that emerge from that building will spill over into the surrounding area, creating a new landscape of shopping streets, just like the development of a basin of high-quality water that is constantly flowing, creating new water veins and new connections.