The commercial district contains a mix of clinics, osteopath offices, and welfare facilities frequented by the elderly; supermarkets and cafés where homemakers gather; and test-prep centers attended by children. On weekends, families shop at the morning market held in the parking lot of the city hall, spend time at the large park, and eat at cafés or family restaurants before returning to the residential neighborhood. We envisioned the building as a familiar perch for people coming and going between the two areas, with verandas where they can stop and rest.

People flow around the building on both weekends and weekdays. While the crowds are smaller than one would find closer to a station, there is reliable community foot traffic. Focusing on this, we created a veranda adjacent to the street and wrapped balconies around the second and third stories. The underside of the balconies form organically shaped, warm wooden eaves that draw people in and define the building’s design. The building faces north to take advantage of views across a tree-lined street to the park and city hall, and to invite in the sights and sounds of summer festivals and plant fairs nearby.

The multi-use building contains shops and a clinic, and the veranda reaches invitingly into the street so that people of all ages can stop by on their outings around the neighborhood on both weekdays and weekends. Our goal was to design a commercial building that will be sustained in this way by members of the community. The interior can be rented as a whole, by the floor, or by unit depending on needs.