A step forward with a new facility.

　We have been rebuilding the brewery along with the head office since 2019, and renovation work is now completed. We received a lot of cooperation from everyone at “Mieken Jinkai”, the local community’s association, that contributed to the design, and we are truly grateful for the wonderful new sake brewing facility. An architecture with a story that incorporates the charm of the area, not only in terms of design and but also in terms of functionality. Using this new start, we would like to further spread the sake and the region’s culture, both domestically and internationally.

　Design concept (from the Prefectural Association of Mie)↓ Preserving a traditional sake brewery image, the design focuses on the sake brewing future by combining both a reconstruction of the existing facilities and the creation of new buildings, all integrated in one production centre.

　The energic facility created wanted each building to have a specific role in the sake brewing process while keeping a privileged access from each building to a managing centre at the core of the premises. Moreover, the construction was equipped with specially designed eaves connected to each other that not only protect sake from sunlight, a great enemy for quality, but also the brewers during their harsh work, or visitors of the facility.

　The exterior’s design enhances the expression of tradition, familiarity, and prefectural pride of the brewery, by the incorporation of Mie-produced wood. As for inside the structure, where functionality is key, materials and colour tones were also controlled to provide a unifying impression for the entire facility. The head office at the core of the building expresses the connection between Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten, the Mie Prefecture, and all the surrounding community. It was not just a sake brewing facility that was made, but a cultural centre that makes sake the stepping-stone for communicating the splendours of the Mie prefecture and its craftmanship.

[Members of the Prefectural Association of Mie] Shuhei Kaida (Kaida Architects) / Tetsuya Sugawa (Sugawa Lab Architects) / Tomoyuki Eguchi (ALP Co., Ltd.) / Masayuki Ochiai (PEA / Ochiai Architects)