The small passenger terminal shaped in the form of joined airy spheres, introduces the new port pavilion and bike shelter by SANAA on Naoshima Island in Japan.
The architecture office Sanna run by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa completed a port terminal in 2016, which is also a place for visitors to park their rented bikes while they visit the Art House Projects.
Naoshima Port terminal is a small terminal for passenger ships in Honmura, Naoshima. Honmura is a village where many islanders from Naoshima reside. It is additionally a popular destination for visitors who come there to explore the art house projects scattered in the area. A new terminal with a waiting place, bicycle parking, and restrooms was needed to replace the old existing facilities.
“We wanted to create something like a landmark for islanders as well as for visitors who visit the island for the first time, so they can easily find the boarding point for the ship. We made an 8m tall three-dimensional form, like a cumulonimbus cloud, atop a wooden grid beam-column frame, by randomly piling up FRP spheres which are 4 meters in diameter.
With this unique shape, people who are heading to the terminal or people approaching the terminal by ship can easily find the port, even from a distance. With these semi-transparent three-dimensional spherical objects with 5mm thickness, we tried to make a space where people can feel comfortable with airy light from outside filling the space inside. We hope that this place will become a new symbol for the village where both islanders and visitors can come together” say the architects.
