Minato Office, Shodoshima Kagawa – Office Tour

Minato Office — Shōdoshima: a CLT office for stone workers

A Kobe-based construction company that quarries stone on Shōdoshima built this 413 m² office by Fukuda Port as its new base on the island. Its workers spend all day in the mountains, covered in sand. Nishizaki-gumi designed a warm timber building of CLT where they can enjoy the sea, the granite peaks and a quiet moment when they return.

Location Shōdoshima, KagawaCompleted April 2025Floor area about 413 m²Design Nishizaki-gumi Architects (Nobuhito Nishizaki); with 4FAConstruction Nishizaki-gumiStructure Kurashiki Structural Design / Meiken Kogyo

Concept

Between mountain and sea

The irregular site was not fought. A large functional volume and a small one for washrooms sit side by side, joined not by a corridor but by a stair that makes walking around enjoyable.

Set on the axis between the mountains and the sea, the building lets framed views appear now and then, so places are not fixed by room use.

01 · CLT

A double skin of timber

The walls are a CLT double skin: structural panels for strength and fire resistance, and a 36 mm finish panel, the thinnest in Japan, for insulation. A 60 mm gap lets air flow between them, and a water-repellent coating protects the outer face.

02 · Learning together

Old and young carpenters

Veteran carpenters from the company worked with young carpenters from Takamatsu. None had built with CLT before; prefabrication cut waste and time and became a way to pass on skills.

DesignNishizaki-gumi Architects

PhotographyNobuyuki Miyake

SourceTECTURE, “港のオフィス”, re-reported by WALL ↗

PublishedOctober 2026