{"id":12404,"date":"2018-05-31T16:11:09","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T07:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/?page_id=12404"},"modified":"2021-08-02T14:41:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T05:41:13","slug":"nest_at_amami","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/en\/story\/nest_at_amami","title":{"rendered":"Nest at Amami Beach Villas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the Location, Amami Oshima<\/b><\/h2>\n

Amami Oshima is a subtropical island of Japan, halfway between Okinawa and\u00a0 Yakushima (an island known for its ancient forest which is designated as a natural World Heritage site since 1993.) With a population of 60 thousand, it is the largest of the Amami Islands, an archipelago currently* nominated to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. It is easily accessible, with Amami Airport boasting 44 incoming and outgoing flights a day.<\/p>\n

Amami’s unique culture and natural environment have been preserved for thousands of years. Especially prominent are the folk songs and dances, influenced by cultures of both the Ryukyu Dynasty of Okinawa and the Satsuma Domain which covered a large part of Kyushu during the Edo period (1603-1868.) It has forests rich in flora and fauna such as dark-furred Amami rabbits and is surrounded by beautiful beaches with coral reefs.\u00a0Sugarcane and fruit farming are currently its major industries, while\u00a0 Oshima Tsumugi textile production (silk kimono fabric dyed with mud, rich in iron) used to be the key industry in the past. In spite of all its beauty based on its natural environment preserved from antiquity and its adorable culture, one thing Amami lacked was luxurious accommodations for high-end travelers.<\/p>\n

(*As of May, 2018)<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/h2>\n

Research on Existing Tourist Accommodations<\/h2>\n

TEKUTO’s chief architect Yasuhiro Yamashita was commissioned to design this resort complex for several reasons: Being from Amami, having created numerous pieces of characteristic architecture with compact spaces, having developed original construction methods and structures utilizing local materials of various regions, and having studied resort facilities for a long period of time.<\/p>\n

Upon embarking on this project, Yamashita conducted an extensive survey of the existing accommodation facilities on the island.<\/p>\n

The survey revealed that despite its potential to be an attractive tourist destination, Amami lacked spacious, luxurious resort facilities. In view of\u00a0 this result, the team decided to target high-end travelers in order to supplement and co-exist with preexisting accommodations, and to expand the tourism infrastructure of the island.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finding the Ideal Building Plot<\/h2>\n

Yamashita himself searched for the ideal site, starting in March 2015.\u00a0 Finally, a piece of land was chosen which gently slopes toward the sea to the southeast with a height difference of 25 meters. Tranquility and intimacy dominates the gentle path leading down to a beautiful beach on the quiet inland sea. The landscape was constructed in such a way as to restore the original indigenous seascape of Amami and embed the structures into the surrounding vegetation and nature. The construction began in August of 2016 and completion was achieved in November 2017.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Overall Concept ; Designing the In-betweens<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n

Upon embarking on this project, Yamashita not only studied the history, nature and vegetation of Amami, but also conducted an extensive survey of the existing accommodation facilities on the island. Through the process, he arrived at the conclusion that affair of designing in and for Amami is a matter of \u201cdesigning the in-betweens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concept can be broken down into five aspects.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Achieving the sense of self liberation in between the vast sky and the sea.<\/li>\n
  2. Restoring the local indigenous vegetation which has deteriorated, placed in between nature and human activity<\/li>\n
  3. Combining the sense of tradition and newness together in between traditional and new architecture<\/li>\n
  4. Developing a material for architecture unique to Amami in between methods of traditional industries and new materials.<\/li>\n
  5. Providing a wide variety of accommodation facilities and food services in between times, before Amami Islands is formally enlisted as a UNESCO natural heritage site.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Concept No.1<\/b><\/h2>\n

    Achieving the sense of self liberation in between the vast sky and the sea<\/h2>\n

    Instead of building massive structures, intimately scaled villas (3\u00a0Pool Villas <\/em>with each a private pool and 10 semi-detatched style 2-key Villas<\/em>) were laid out along with a restaurant + administration building, so that the guests could fully enjoy the spaciousness and relaxing atmosphere of Amami.<\/p>\n

    The roofs of each structure have slits and openings that let light flow from various directions, and the spaces in between the villas allows the sense of liberation that the vast sky and the blue sea offers, to be relished anywhere on the premises.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/h2>\n

    Concept No.2<\/b><\/h2>\n

    Restoring the local indigenous vegetation which has deteriorated, placed in between nature and human activity<\/h2>\n

    Even though Amami is still blessed with abundant nature compared to urban areas, there are many areas that the lanscape has undergone changes as the result of\u00a0 human activities. The team studied books on local vegetation and consulted local specialists in order to restore the seaside vegetation indigenous to the area.<\/p>\n

    The site was divided into several zones with each a theme such as Forest Village Zone\u00a0<\/em>, Seaside Village Zone,<\/em> etc. and the landscape and planting was designed according to those themes.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Concept No.3<\/b><\/h2>\n

    Combining the sense of tradition and newness together
    \nin between traditional and new architecture<\/h2>\n

    Upon designing the villas,\u00a0 Yamashita put in a lot of effort to create an architectural form that represents the culture and nature of Amami. He studied the forms of not only traditional local hip-and-gable roofed houses and Amamian raised-floor granaries, but also that of local animals such as conch-shells found in Amami.<\/p>\n

    After creating numerous study models, a new form derived from traditional architectural vocabularies and the form of conch-shells was born.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Concept No.4<\/b><\/h2>\n

    Developing a material for architecture unique to Amami in between methods of traditional industries and new materials<\/h2>\n

    In Amami, there are species of wood such as luchu pine (Okinawa pine;\u00a0Pinus luchuensis) and itajii (sudajii;\u00a0Castanopsis sieboldii.) They are mostly used as woodchips or lumber for public works, not for architectural construction. On top of that, many luchu pine trees in Amami has recently been infected and killed by pine wood nematode, leaving a negative impact on the local lumber industry.<\/p>\n

    Yamashita teamed up with a local woodcraft studio and experimented to dye itajii lumber using the method of\u00a0 Oshima tsumugi. Itajii, containg tannin, changes its color to dark gray when soaked in the iron-rich mud of Amami. The team accumulated data by testing various lumber thickness, soaking time, and drying methods. The roofs of all the structures and the exterior walls of the Pool Villas are clad with this newly developed material.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Concept No.5<\/b><\/h2>\n

    Providing a wide variety of accommodation facilities and food services in between times, before Amami Islands is formally enlisted as a UNESCO natural heritage site<\/b><\/h2>\n

    In January 2013, the Japanese government\u00a0applied for the inclusion of the\u3000”\u00a0Amami\u00a0and Ryukyu islands”<\/em> onUNESCO’s\u00a0provisional list of candidates for World\u00a0Heritage\u00a0sites.\u00a0 Four years later,\u00a0\u00a0it fomally nominated the area comprised of Amami and Tokunoshima Islands, the northern part of Okinawa Prefecture\u2019s main island and Iriomote Island (also in Okinawa)<\/em> as a Natural Heritage candidate site. Whether the area would be formally nominated or not, is to be officially determined by the summer of 2018.<\/p>\n

    If Amami gets UNESCO natural heritage listing, the number of tourists, both domestic and international, is likely to increase exponentially. Therefore, Nest at Amami Beach Villas was designed as a luxurious resort in order to add variety to existing accommodations, and to offer a dining space that will enhance the gastronomic experience\u00a0 which is an essential part of travel.<\/p>\n

    Amami may go through significant changes after the listing, but we aim to accept the good changes while cherishing and protecting the precious tradition of Amami.\u00a0 This resort is a product of such a wish.<\/p>\n

    <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      About the Location, Amami Oshima Amami Oshima is a subtropical island of Japan, halfway between Okinawa and\u00a0 Yakushima (an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":11769,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"temp-storypage.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"12387","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12404","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","en-US"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12404"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13713,"href":"https:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12404\/revisions\/13713"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tekuto.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}