Tenri Station Plaza CoFuFun by nendo

The master plan for the station plaza at Tenri Station in Nara prefecture, located in the southwest region of Japan.

The plan for the 7,700 square meter area includes bicycle rentals, a cafe and other shops, an information kiosk, a play area, outdoor stage, and meeting area. The project goal was to encourage local community revitalisation by providing a space for events, tourist information dissemination and leisure facilities for local residents.

天里的城市边界包括一些日本古墓，被称为“cofun”。共同的乐趣是美丽和明确的，但融入了城市的日常生活空间。广场上的景观中穿插着一些有趣的景观，是该地区特色地理的代表:奈良盆地，四面环山。

Tenri’s urban boundaries include a number of ancient Japanese tombs, known as “cofun”. The cofun are beautiful and unmistakeable, but blend into the spaces of everyday life in the city. The plaza’s landscape, richly punctuated by several of these cofun, is a representation of the area’s characteristic geography: the Nara Basin, surrounded on all sides by mountains.

建筑技术用于建造广场的圆形cofun结构，包括将预制的混凝土模具拼合在一起，就像一个巨大的披萨。由于预制混凝土模具是在工厂成型，然后在现场组装，所得到的结构是精确的，同样的模具可以多次使用，保证了优异的性价比。这些预制部件被组装在一起，就像用同样巨大的起重机建造桥梁一样。大的空间可以不使用柱或梁而形成，而且由于圆形，平衡良好的结构提供了对来自任何方向的力的稳定性。

cofun的不同层次有不同的用途:它们是楼梯，但也有坐着的凳子，围起玩耍的孩子的围栏，咖啡馆和舞台屋顶，展示产品的架子，以及夜间照明效果，这些都让广场充满了灯光。这种多样性创造了一个环境，鼓励游客在广场的不同空间探索和度过时间，而不是将他们的运动限制在一个地方。这是一个“模糊”的空间，完全是一个咖啡馆，一个游乐场和一件巨大的家具，同时。

路标和招牌的特点是柔和的曲线与cofun的曲线相似，颜色是深灰色，在与周围环境很好地融合的同时，产生了自然的对比。它们也根据它们的功能被安排在四个不同的高度，以减少噪音水平。会议区增加了一个供儿童玩耍的空间，一个供儿童阅读的休息室和书房空间，以及一个可用于音乐会或公共放映的舞台，并在空间旁边的新设计商店购买了Tenri纪念品。

每一个设计都是为了确保内部的材料和色彩尽可能地与广场上的材料和色彩相匹配。用奈良地区的木材制作的家具和夹具，围绕着一个共同的主题，营造出一种与广场一致的感觉。

广场的名字，CoFuFun，结合了主要的设计主题，cofun，和日语口语表达。“Fufun”指的是快乐的、无意识的哼哼声:广场的设计应该提供一种欢乐的氛围，这种氛围会在无意中让游客在那里时发出快乐的哼哼声。

字母拼写，“CoFuFun”，也带来了“合作”和“社区”，当然还有“乐趣”本身。其结果是一个名字，日语和字母拼写都是类似的东西，所以外国游客也会以同样的方式理解它。
The construction technique used to create the plaza’s round cofun structures consisted of fitting together pieces of a precast concrete mould resembling a huge pizza. Because precast concrete moulds are formed at the factory and then assembled onsite, the resulting structures are precise and the same mould can be used multiple times, ensuring excellent cost-performance. The pre-formed parts are pieced together like building blocks using the same massive cranes used to build bridges. Large spaces can be formed without the use of columns or beams, and because of the round shape the well-balanced structures offer stability against forces applied from any direction.

The cofun’s different levels serve a variety of purposes: they’re stairs, but also benches for sitting, fences to enclose playing children, the cafe and stage roofs, shelves for displaying products and the nighttime lighting effect, which floods the plaza with light. This variety creates an environment that encourages visitors to explore and spend time in different spaces within the plaza, rather than limiting their movement to one place. It’s a “ambiguous” space that’s entirely a cafe, a playground and a massive piece of furniture, all at once.

Guideposts and signboards feature gentle curves similar to those of the cofun, and are coloured a dark grey that creates a natural contrast while still fitting in with the surrounding area well. They are also arranged at four different heights according to their function in order to minimize noise levels. A play space for children, a lounge and study space for reading books, and a stage that can be used for concerts or public screenings have all been added to the meeting area, and Tenri souvenirs can be purchased at a newly designed shop next to the space.

Every design was given to ensure that the materials and colouring of the interiors matched those of the plaza as closely as possible. Furniture and fixtures made using wood from Nara Prefecture and designed around a cofun theme create a sense of uniformity with the plaza.

The plaza’s name, CoFuFun, combines the main design motif, the cofun, with colloquial Japanese expressions. “Fufun” refers to happy, unconscious humming: the design for the plaza should offer a convivial atmosphere that unconsciously leads visitors to hum, happily, while they’re there.

The alphabet spelling, “CoFuFun”, also brings in the “co-” of “cooperation” and “community”, as well as – of course – “fun” itself. The result is a name whose Japanese and alphabet spellings mean similar things, so that foreign visitors to the plaza will understand it in the same way, too.

更多：nendo