HOTO FUDO, a Creation Halfway Between Art and Nature by Takeshi Hosaka

A few kilometres from Mount Fuji, the firm Takeshi Hosaka Architects designed a building with a light, rounded shape, which is home to a restaurant that serves hoto, a noodle speciality from the Yamanashi region. 

‘This building seems to belong to the category of natural objects, such as mountains and clouds. It was made with a soft geometry that does not come from shapes like quadrangles or circles,’ the architects behind the HOTO FUDO project explain on their website. 

Linking with nature

The structure, completely white and slightly larger than 700 square metres, was designed to blend in perfectly with the elements and the nature of the environment. Thus, it is penetrated only by large, sliding bay windows that are curved, the architectural firm having placed them in such a way that the air would circulate perfectly well inside the structure, avoiding the need for air conditioning. The lighting system was also designed to maintain the symbiosis between the building and the exterior. The luminosity is adjustable and adapts throughout the day to the intensity of the light at different times. 

HOTO FUDO allows its diners to have privileged access to the spectacle that nature offers over the course of the seasons: ‘When it rains, people can appreciate the sound of the raindrops from inside. When it’s foggy, the fog enters the building. When it snows, it becomes a landscape buried in the snow, and sometimes birds and animals come in. It’s half-way between nature and art,’ concludes the firm Takeshi Hosaka Architects.

HOTO FUDO (2009), a project by the firm Takeshi Hosaka Architects, can be viewed on their website.