MEINOHAMA STEPS

Diverse Commercial Spaces Inspired by Local Context
MEINOHAMA STEPS is a mixed-use commercial facility located in the suburbs of Fukuoka City. The building stands in Meinohama, a popular residential area known as a commuter town with a high population of families with children. Despite its convenient access to the city center, there has been a lack of commercial facilities near the station. The developer, who has been rooted in and growing alongside this community for over 100 years, decided to take on a new challenge: constructing a directly managed mixed-use commercial facility aimed at revitalizing the Meinohama area and contributing to community development. This plan began as a response to that aspiration.
The site is situated at a transitional point where the large-scale urban environment around Meinohama Station shifts into the smaller-scale residential neighborhood. The design concept explored the possibility of using architecture to create a gradational connection between these two contrasting environments. In other words, the approach to the architecture was guided by the distinct character of each location. After considering various forms based on this theme, the resulting design features large stacked volumes facing the station and smaller, residential-scale stacked volumes facing the neighborhood. A wide, stepped passage runs through the gaps between these volumes, spatially linking the station side and the residential side in three dimensions. Furthermore, the terraced structure naturally created open spaces, which have been developed into lush stairways and terraces open to the town—creating welcoming, communal gathering spots for people.
This project was envisioned as a way for the architecture to embrace diverse social activities within the community, connecting the town and the building and fostering the growth of new forms of community.