HOME >ARCHITECTS VOICE >土地のDNAを、現代の建築へ。 仲本昌司が考える「沖縄建築」のこれから
Bringing the DNA of the Land into Contemporary Architecture — Masashi Nakamoto’s vision for the future of Okinawan architecture.
“Architecture is the act of accepting what already exists in a place and giving it form,” says Masashi Nakamoto. Rather than treating Okinawa’s distinctive climate and landscape as mere design conditions, he carefully reads the “sense of living alongside the unseen” embedded in the DNA of its people and seeks to express it in architectural space. The reconstruction of tradition in The Three Roof House, acclaimed around the world, and the rational hybrid structure of his own home, A Subtropical Home, are results of reweaving the DNA of the land through contemporary technology. In pursuing precise details, he arrived at a “rough beauty” that blends naturally into everyday life as it is. With both respect for tradition and a free sensibility, Nakamoto is working to free Okinawan architecture from the confines of regional identity and open up a new universality for it.
— What does “Okinawan architecture” mean to you, Mr. Nakamoto?
Masashi Nakamoto (hereafter, Nakamoto): I believe it is a “way of engaging with nature” that has been practiced in everyday life in Okinawa since ancient times. Large eaves that block the intense sunlight and rain while allowing pleasant breezes to enter, along with semi-outdoor spaces such as amāha, can be seen as inevitable forms arrived at by our predecessors over many years. Even today, as advanced technologies develop and people, goods, and information move actively across borders, I believe their essential character remains unchanged. We should certainly embrace advanced methods and designs from overseas and mainland Japan, but rather than ending with mere imitation of their forms, the very act of accepting what already exists before us and giving it form may be the essence of Okinawan architecture.
— How does Okinawa’s harsh climate influence your architectural design?
Nakamoto: We make extensive use of simulations in our designs, but there can be a significant gap between numerical “comfort” and the way conditions actually feel in Okinawa. For example, even when humidity levels are extremely high, a space can feel comfortable if air flows through it—and there are moments when walking around in sandals feels just right. Rather than shutting nature out, it is important to embrace it and live in coexistence with it. How to translate this sensibility, which goes beyond numbers, into architecture is a constant theme in my work.
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Bringing Okinawa’s traditional homes into the present. The Three Roofs House, winner of a Silver Award at the A' Design Award, creates a comfortable place to be with its four-meter-wide, column-free eave space, or amāha, which blocks direct sunlight while drawing in the breeze.
The roof is divided into three sections to bring in stable light and airflow from the north. Varying ceiling heights create spaces filled with brightness and a sense of openness.
— Could you tell us about the design philosophy you value most?
Nakamoto: I pursue an “unadorned beauty” that emerges after thorough questioning and refinement. There was a time when I was captivated by the modernist ideal of rigorously eliminating every unnecessary line, and I struggled with it deeply. Now, however, I believe there is a richness in a “roughness” that blends into everyday life as it is—where the design process and the thoughts behind it remain faintly visible.
There is an anecdote about the painter Picasso. When a client complained that a sketch he improvised in front of them was too expensive for something drawn in just ten seconds, Picasso reportedly replied, “It took me fifty years and ten seconds.” Only after decades of thinking through the messy details and continually refining one’s skills can a pure, assured, single-stroke-like space emerge in a moment of release. I aim to create architecture that is flexible and resilient, free from any obvious authorial intention, and allows its inhabitants to feel at ease and live naturally.
— What aspects of Okinawa’s architectural culture would you like to preserve for future generations?
Nakamoto: Okinawa is home to many outstanding buildings that can be called “traces of dialogue”—works created through a sincere engagement with their surroundings. Nago City Hall, for example, is a place I have visited many times since I was a teenager. My impression changes each time, prompting me to think deeply about how its designers engaged with the theme of Okinawa. These buildings are often debated, but if such architecture—created through genuine engagement—does not remain, Okinawa’s architectural culture will be severed, and we will have to begin building our ideas from zero once again.
I have set myself the goal of leaving behind at least ten works that I can truly stand behind over the course of my career. By creating a body of work rooted in the region—works that allow people from outside Okinawa to feel, “So this is what Okinawan architecture can be”—I believe that the accumulation of this inheritance will shape Okinawan architectural culture in its truest sense.
Nago City Hall—an architectural masterpiece to preserve for future generations, shaped through dialogue with Okinawa’s climate and landscape and etched into the region’s architectural culture.
A Subtropical Home, living in harmony with subtropical nature. Combining reinforced concrete and wood, it responds to Okinawa’s harsh climate while creating a comfortable living environment that welcomes in the breeze and light.
Nakamoto: I hope you will not confine yourselves to fixed ideas such as “Okinawan architecture should be this way,” or retreat into a closed shell. While maintaining the freedom to see Okinawa as one hub within Asia, I also hope you will look closely at the familiar, richly everyday atmosphere of “your grandparents’ home.”
First, I hope you will not be confined by the fixed idea that “Okinawan architecture should be this way,” or by your own shell. Modern Okinawa is connected to the world as one of Asia’s hubs. It is wonderful to take a broad perspective and actively learn from outstanding designs overseas and in mainland Japan, but this must not end as mere imitation of style. At the same time, the most important clues may be hidden in the unpretentious richness of everyday life found in homes like those of our grandparents.
I also hope you will recognize that design is about creating “relationships.” Just as drawing a single tree on a blank sheet of paper does not create a landscape, I encourage you to pursue grounded designs that value connections with the surrounding environment, history, and culture. Architecture is both private property and a public foundation that shapes a region’s original landscape. Rather than simply creating something that looks cool, it is essential to continue an earnest “dialogue” with the land, considering maintenance decades into the future and the future of the town itself.
— What message would you like to share with young architects?
A Home in Oroku
A Multi-Family Home in Izumizaki
Wansakaoura Park
Toyama Community Center
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“As I gain experience as an architect, I have become increasingly aware of the concept of ‘coexistence,’” says Nakamoto. Rather than excluding harsh natural conditions, his design practice embraces humidity and wind as part of everyday life, culminating in an “unadorned beauty” that affirms things as they are beyond meticulous refinement. His efforts to reweave the DNA of the land through contemporary technology offer a powerful vision for elevating Okinawan architecture beyond the boundaries of regional style toward a universal value that resonates around the world.
仲本昌司 / MASASHI NAKAMOTO
ADeR Inc.
Representative Director, First-Class Architect
Born in Okinawa in 1979
Graduated from Kyoto University of the Arts
Formerly with Masaharu Takasaki Urban Architecture Design Office and Atelier Kadoguchi
Established ADeR First-Class Architect Office in 2017
Incorporated as ADeR Inc. in 2018
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