Coexisting with water is what brings prosperity to Shiga, but this feature is gradually disappearing nowadays, which is owning to the decreasing number of “Kabata”. “Kabata”, a unique construction for people to live with water, was once extremely common in Shiga. However, due to the construction of culverts in response to road widening, “Kataba” is dying out from the community.
Therefore, I located my site in the village of Harie, Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture where “Kabata” are still kept and used. In my work, I congregate those characteristics of Harie from the remaining “Kabata” and waterways in order to reconstruct the lost community. I have no intention to exclude the embankment and lakeshore trails which are the very cause of losing the community, but to adapt to these modern infrastructures by putting them into positive application. By doing so, it reminds people of the very attribute of Shiga is coexisting with water. In other words, “Kabata” should become the main target of publicity. As an architectural form as much as a water system, “Kabata” symbolizes people’s living experience in the community. It is a storage device that carries collective memories standing on the shore of the lake.
