Once upon a time – in the summer of 2005, to be precise – a man travelled to Japan. This man's name was Alexander von Vegesack, founder-director of the Vitra Design Museum and the Centre International de Recherche et d'Education Culturelle et Agricole, CIRECA. It was not the first time Alexander had travelled to Japan, but during this one special visit, he was given an enormous and significant gift: three antique minka houses.

   These were houses that had belonged to the Hayashi family, and were given to Alexander by the Japanese Kominka Research Society, in order to symbolise and foster the cultural exchange between France and Japan.

   Over the course of the next few years, many people became involved in the story of these three houses. And in March 2006, a group of craftsmen and students gathered around the Kyakuden, the guest house, and after a traditional ceremony started dismantling the building with great skill and care. Parts that had been damaged over time were carefully replaced, and the entire building was prepared to start a long voyage across the sea, towards France.

   Three weeks ago, the parts of the Kyakuden arrived at the Domaine de Boisbuchet. There, the Kyakuden will serve as a cultural centre as it was intended to. However, before the building can be put to its use, the Kyakuden once more needs to be reassembled into something greater than the sum of its parts. To this purpose, a small group of skilled craftsmen have come to the Domaine de Boisbuchet. Four of them have travelled all the way from Japan in order to ensure that the Kyakuden is reassembled in the traditional manner, using care, skill and craftsmanship.

   Minka (民家, literally house(s) of the people) are private residences constructed in one of several traditional Japanese building styles. Minka traditionally were the dwellings of farmers, artisans, and merchants (the three non-samurai castes); however, this connotation no longer exists in modern Japanese parlance, and any traditional Japanese style residence of an appropriate age might be referred to as minka.

   The Kyakuden is made of wood, the columns and crossbeams intricately interlocked without the use of nails to form a skeletal structure. As in other forms of traditional Japanese architecture, the columns support the entire weight of the structure, so that the walls are not load-bearing and can afford to have spaces left in them for windows or entryways. These openings will be covered with shoji paper screens and wooden doors; the house's walls will be created from a bamboo-structure covered in clay. Its roof will be covered with burned clay tiles.

   As of today, the Kyakuden's basic structure has been reassembled at the Domaine de Boisbuchet. Over the coming two weeks, you find an up-to-date account of the building's reconstruction here in this space on Faces of Design. You are also welcome to share any areas of interest you may have regarding the project with us; we'll be more than happy to try and answer any questions you may have.

   If you would like to be informed about the publication date of each of the relevant blog entries, please feel free to let me know under anna.rojahn@facesofdesign.com. I will be sending out notifications, and would be more than happy to include you in the list.

   Personally, I would like to once again thank everyone who has been involved in this amazing project. I send warm regards to the team at Boisbuchet, with whom we're working very closely to make this blog possible, and on whose shoulders most of the weight of this project lies now. Thank you for your hard work and great achievements! We'll be hearing and seeing a lot more of you here over the next two weeks.

All photographs courtesy of and © by Andreas Raab.

http://www.facesofdesign.com/blog/reconstructing-kyakuden-december-12th

http://www.facesofdesign.com/blog/reconstructing-kyakuden-hibernation