BUAISOU GALLERY

Based in Tokushima Prefecture, BUAISOU oversees every stage of its indigo practice—from cultivating indigo and producing sukumo (composted indigo leaves) to dyeing, design, and sewing. This project involved the creation of a new flagship store and gallery that would serve as a platform for BUAISOU’s activities and ideas. The renovation encompasses two Japanese houses dating from the late 1940s to early 1950s, overlooking indigo fields directly in front of the site. Having long formed part of the local landscape, the challenge was to preserve the atmosphere and character of these buildings while transforming them into spaces for new forms of expression and activity.

For the gallery, located beyond the store, the aim was to create more than simply a place for exhibiting works. It was conceived as a flexible space through which BUAISOU could present a wide range of projects and activities. A defining feature of the existing architecture was the series of columns dispersed throughout an otherwise continuous, open space. In the renovation of timber buildings, structural elements such as beams and columns often cannot be relocated. Rather than treating these elements as constraints, the project takes them as defining characteristics of the space, exploring an architecture that could emerge only from the particular conditions of this building.

White walls and ceilings provide a neutral backdrop appropriate for a gallery, while the existing columns were left largely as they were, with only necessary repairs and refinishing. Retained as traces of the building’s history, they gently articulate the open interior while also functioning as elements that support the display of works. In the exhibition area facing the street, the floor level was lowered and a double-height void introduced, creating a space with the scale of two stories. Two large openings were positioned in relation to this void, establishing a distinctive architectural feature that can be experienced from both inside and outside the building. The second floor overlooking the void was designed as a private space, responding to the complexity of the existing timber framework while maintaining a sense of continuity with the architecture as a whole. Beginning with a custom staircase integrated with a shoe closet, elements throughout the second floor—including the flooring, doors and fittings, furniture, wall coverings, and blinds—were finished using indigo dye. The result is an intimate and highly concentrated space in which BUAISOU’s distinctive material sensibility can be experienced throughout.

The deteriorated exterior cladding, which required replacement, was renewed in yakisugi—charred cedar, a natural material that resonates with BUAISOU’s own engagement with indigo and other natural processes. Stainless steel was used for the window and opening frames as well as the entrance door, creating a point of arrival where old and new materials coexist.