At first sight at Kobe Port, I was drawn to this building 🤩
* “Uplifted Land and Eroding Water”
Its rugged, vibrant texture resembles biomimetic rock formations. It turns out to symbolize Kobe’s unique geography, formed through crustal movement between the Rokko mountain range and the Seto Inland Sea.
Historical significance symbolizing “revival” after the Great Hanshin Earthquake
* An architectural language that directly confronts trauma:
The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which occurred on January 17, 1995, caused devastating damage to Kobe’s port area and the city’s foundations.
This building uses “fault lines,” “uplifted land,” and “torn rock layers” as its design vocabulary. Rather than deliberately forgetting the pain, it boldly confronts the painful memories caused by the shifting earth, symbolizing the city rising proudly again from the trauma of the quake and being reborn from fractured layers of earth.
* A symbol of waterfront regeneration and cultural revival:
In the past, the Shinkocho area of Kobe Port mainly consisted of traditional industrial warehouses and cargo terminals. Following long-term postwar and post-earthquake urban renewal and redevelopment plans, this integrated building combining aesthetics, art, and tourism rose along the waterfront. It symbolizes Kobe’s port area successfully emerging from the shadow of the disaster and transforming into a “new-era urban living room” filled with endless creativity and vitality, demonstrating the powerful resilience of Kobe’s citizens as they rose from the ashes.
