Inage Ryoen

Chiba-City, Chiba, Japan

Photo © Kai Nakamura

Cemeteries

Architects: STAR

Location: Chiba-City, Chiba, Japan
Year: 2018

THE ONLY GRAVE-STYLE OSSUARY IN JAPAN

As the birthrate declines and the population ages, people are leaving their hometowns and concentrating in cities, and lifestyles that value the individual are becoming more mainstream, there is a growing demand for ossuaries that are easy to visit and respect the individuality of the deceased.

Conventional ossuaries are closed because they have a storage room in the back, and the design of the ossuary is altar-like, which is a challenge. To solve this problem and create a comfortable and beautiful environment for worshipping, we developed a system with Toyota L&F that allows the remains to be stored under the headstone in the same way as before, creating the first open and beautiful grave-style ossuary in Japan. It took four years to realize the system.

The building is a steel-framed structure with three floors above ground. The garden and ossuary are located on the roof, the temple on the second floor, and the lounge on the first floor.

The materials used were natural materials such as stone, wood, and paper, and we designed the architecture, interior, furniture, signage, and even the development of a worship system environment to solve the client's issues with beauty.