Ploughing the fields on sunny days and reading books on rainy days... Library in the Earth is for such people.

Reposing as a benign cleft in an active agricultural terrain in Japan, Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP’s heartwarming library design reconciles natural and human spheres, of agriculture and architecture through the theme of magical realism. Pregnant with many meandering rows of books, the cosy Library in the Earth incorporates a facility for farmers and remains almost unnoticed in the site it calls home, tucked away in a leafy corner of KURKKU FIELDS (the client). This ‘Library for the Farmers’ is subsumed in the leafy terrain, embodying the concept of architecture as a vessel for knowledge and sustenance, while preaching a deepening relationship with the land.

Earlier, the site’s flat and dry land rested atop a valley saturated with construction debris. In their reflective intervention, the firm led by Japanese architect Hiroshi Nakamura carried out an ambition to restore this valley leading to a pond (that local farmers refer to as the ‘Mother Pond'), to lushness. The design team decided that the library must not occupy the cultivated soil layer, but instead, take up humble residence under the flourishing of plants and microorganisms in the soil. To quote the architects, “The earth has been regarded as the source of all life and a symbol of motherhood. Our wish was to make a small cleft in the earth and create a tranquil place suitable for farmers to rest.” In another symbolic representation of nature, this subterranean library resembles a water droplet when viewed from above.

Walking along a narrow walking path resembling an animal trail, accompanied by green explosions, one comes across a tiny opening in the grass-cloaked land resembling an ancient burial mound. When passing through the ploughed land, this subtle hump discloses a gently meandering corridor of bookshelves encircling it. Wooden steps along the same curve lead to a door which opens into a heartwarming library at the end of the drop-shaped courtyard design, beyond which awaits a small reception area.

The corridor inside is punctuated with smaller spaces with niches for sitting and reading, or those attached with desks, as well as sofas which can be used as secret bases. Camouflaged by the earth and the vegetation, the Japanese architecture uses a gap in the original sloping site that has been restored as interior space, while the corridor’s ceiling lowers imperceptibly as one moves forward.

Nakamura conveys the project’s brief to STIR—“The client [who operates an agricultural production corporation in Kisarazu, Chiba, Japan], has been involved in activities connecting music with food, art and agriculture. [They] asked us to create a new library within KURKKU FIELDS, which already comprises several buildings and farms. Based on the main concept of wandering, [they] wanted a library as a space for contemplating a sustained future, where visitors actively engage rather than carry out routine or purpose-oriented activities.”

It is a library that thinks of the earth while being embraced in the wisdom of the earth and human beings.

Home to a collection of 3,000 books curated from the viewpoint of crop producers and following the theme of ‘farmer's bookshelves,’ the library's architecture deviates from conventional classification methods, Nakamura reveals to STIR. Juxtaposed side by side, the books encompass over 50 distinct categories and diverse genres, primarily centred around nature and agrarian life, each meticulously selected.

According to Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP, beams and columns were intentionally eliminated in the structure spelt by reinforced concrete and timber. The green roof's slabs feature no beams, created by employing concrete void slabs. It is supported only by the earth-retaining walls at the outer periphery, and sleeve walls perpendicular to the retaining walls of the organic architecture. "The structure makes it possible for the slabs to form a cantilever, eliminating the need for pillars on the courtyard side,” Nakamura explains to STIR. Inside, the floor, walls and ceilings feature an earthen finish and connect smoothly, while the verdant lawn planted up to the vertical edge of the slab hangs down, providing the space with a sense of 'comfortable dampness.' "This detail allows for the balance of irrigation and water retention to be adjusted according to the season," mentions the project description.

Grass adorns the slabs' vertical faces, the structure becoming an extension of the surrounding bucolic context. A sophisticated greening and watering system gets activated based on the building's needs, ensuring optimal water retention throughout changing seasons. The construction cleverly conceals the systems within the design, harmonising with the natural landscape. Coated with soil from floor to ceiling, the interior too, submits to the earth and its hues. Additionally, the bookshelf section was carefully coloured to highlight the wood’s grain and blend in with the earth-toned plastering.

The natural slope of the ground determines the ceiling heights inside—in some areas the ceilings droop low enough to create smaller, hidden rooms that only children can enter, welcoming them with a hearty collection of books arranged on the shelves. Returning from the corridor to the reception area, a narrow entrance reveals the deepest part of the library—a hall for storytelling, a magical, womb-like room uplifting the lawned ground.

Here, the bookshelves’ 40mm thick vertical frames extend overhead to form beams that support the 'reciprocal’ structure. To quote Nakamura, “Surrounded by books, the domed space is a space for storytelling. Sitting on a bench on the dais, one can see the sky through the round skylight as one raises one's gaze, guided by the vertical planks of the rising bookshelf.”

"When a thin vertical beam supports the next one, and that vertical beam is also supported by its neighbour, a large space can be supported as a whole when the repetition makes a circle. At the end of the chain of reciprocal support, a social space arises that cannot be created by strong individuals alone,” the Tokyo-based office explains.

The library is dedicated to the farmer's rest day, standing modestly between the sky and the earth.

The top light crowning the structure’s centre symbolises the agricultural community of KURKKU FIELDS, framing a view that resembles the earth covered in blue skies salted with clouds. A 15mm diameter top light here creates a 'camera obscura pinhole effect' in the roof. When the curtains are drawn and the lights turned off, the reflection of a stream of clouds drifts over the white table placed underneath, "as if the room connects to the sky from beneath the earth,” the architect relays. With this kaleidoscope retractable top light, this study area creates an opportunity for readers to break into pauses to gaze at the sky, observe the verdant surroundings and contemplate both, nature, and human life.

Laminated wood, crafted from curved and glued thin boards, forms the vertical piers shaping the reading hall's structure. Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP highlight the challenge of assembling this 'reciprocal structure', requiring meticulous construction of complex pre-cut joints. Adding a touch of whimsy is the custom-made book-type lighting that illuminates the shelves instead of traditional downlights. The brightness can simply be adjusted by moving the glowing books within their cases, offering flexibility in positioning with line outlets at the back of each shelf.

"In terms of impact, 'Library in the Earth' is designed to enrich the environment by having people engage with a water purification system that uses the power of microbes and leverages the mortar-shaped terrain, as well as with a solar-powered pump that circulates water in the grounds. This library was built as a facility for farmers in KURKKU FIELDS. It is home to a 'farmer’s bookshelf' through which farmers cultivate fields on sunny days and deepen their knowledge on rainy days," the architect tells STIR.

“The wisdom of farmers who live with a keen sense while interacting with the earth, the objects that they are interested in, and the ideas that they sympathise with and view as important while engaging with nature are reflected by the bookshelf, and these concepts are fully passed on to visitors. The agricultural intellect, fostered by a delicate balance of all kinds of natural elements on the earth, from sunlight to rain and microbes, encompasses the wisdom necessary to think about sustainability. By facilitating the accumulation of knowledge in the library and practice in the field, the project provides opportunities for the imagination to conjure ways of building a sustainable society in the future,” he concludes. 

Project Details

Name: Library in the Earth
Location: Kisarazu, Chiba, Japan
Area: 732.02 sqm (site area); 113.09 sqm (total floor area)
Year of completion: 2022
Architect: Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP
Structural design: Kanebako Structural Engineers
Construction: SUMITOMO FORESTRY CO.,LTD.
Team: Soichiro Takai, Takumi Shido, Ayami Hisa