Azumi Setoda/Yubune Plan,
Setodamachi, Onomichi City,
Hiroshima Prefecture(2021, completed)

Before the Shimanami Kaido road was opened, the port of Setoda was an important transport hub connecting the islands of Honshu and Shikoku. Here, the house belonging to the Horiuchi family of wealthy merchants who prospered in the salt manufacture and shipping sbusinesses was located about two minutes from the port. The 150 year-old principal residence had been donated to Onomichi City by the current business owner. As a result of a public offering for plans to utilize the site, a project team led by Adrian Zecha, was selected, and Rokukaku-ya also joined the team. We conceived a plan to renovate the Horiuchi house into a ryokan guesthouse, while also developing the surrounding area as a resort conveying the local climate and history. The shopping street leading from the port, past the Horiuchi house, and straight on to Kosanji Temple no longer retained the vestiges of its former prosperity and was filled with closed shutters. We newly built an inn opposite the Horiuchi house and dismantled vacant houses to make room for a public bathhouse that could be used by guests of the ryokan, visitors to the inn and local residents. We also built a café, restaurant and other facilities that could be used by tourists and locals alike. Ever since the site was opened in March 2021, it has attracted many visitors and overnight guests, and this has inspired the local residents to rediscover the beauty of their town. I hear that the locals use the inn as if it were their own home’s guestroom, and that they also regularly use the public bathhouse. This project constitutes both community regeneration and the birth of a new community. Whether or not such projects can become a reality and, moreover, continue to be sustained after materializing depends on how much the local people cherish the facilities as their own, and this depends on the contents of such projects.