Studio Armitage builds demountable Field Shelter in Nara

A water tank ballasts a wooden pavilion in Nara, Japan, designed by London practice Studio Armitage as a rest spot for people working in the surrounding rice fields and allotments.

Named Field Shelter, the demountable structure addresses the absence of anywhere to stop for locals tending their allotments in the Amagatsuji neighbourhood. Studio Armitage developed the design while spending time at Space Department, a nearby creative hub, and observing how the fields doubled as an important social space for the community.

The ambition was to provide an unobtrusive resting place that complements the simple agricultural structures and sheds scattered across the fields, which were "assembled from whatever materials are readily available".

"I was spending a lot of time walking and cycling through the rice fields and allotments around the studio and became interested in the small sheds, field stores and other structures scattered amongst them," studio founder Freddie Armitage told Dezeen.

"I also noticed that there was almost nowhere to stop. The summer sun in Nara is incredibly strong, and the rain can be sudden and heavy. At the same time, the allotments clearly had an important social life," he continued.

"The idea for the shelter grew directly from that. We found a plot that sat at a natural meeting point within the fields and approached the owner about building a small communal structure there."

A floor, a roof and two benches

Field Shelter comprises a deliberately simple wooden structure formed from standard timber sections and battens, raised above wet ground on impermanent concrete blocks. An overlapping roof structure topped with corrugated polycarbonate sheets shelters two benches that flank a central water container.

There is no obvious front or back, and no division between inside and outside. The pared-back design means the shelter is fully demountable and another version could be easily made.

Alongside the agricultural structures, the design draws on local temples and storehouses around Nara that are raised on platforms, have deep eaves and legible construction.

"I was interested in how little we needed to build in order to make a recognisable place," reflected Armitage.

"The shelter is essentially a raised floor, a roof and two benches. Those elements are enough to give some protection and a sense of enclosure without separating you from the fields," he continued.

"Everything was deliberately based around standard dimensions and materials that we could obtain locally. There is no specialist fabrication and very little equipment is required to build it."

Benches oriented to the sun

Studio Armitage placed the benches facing opposite directions: one looks east for the morning light, the other faces west for evening light.

"There is no fixed way that it has to be occupied," said Armitage. "Somebody can stop there alone while working on their plot, two people can sit facing out across the water, or a larger group can gather around it in the evening."

The water butt that ballasts the structure serves "a spatial role", according to the studio, forming a divider between the two sides. It also acts as a shared water store: if periodically filled, people do not have to carry water to their allotments on each visit.

Other details include blue-painted end grain on the timber sections, providing additional weather protection while making "the individual pieces of the construction very legible".

Studio Armitage hopes the structure will remain in the allotments for as long as locals find it useful, though it can be rebuilt or repurposed elsewhere.

"It might remain where it is for a long time, move to another group of allotments or appear somewhere completely different," reflected Armitage. "A small piece of overlooked ground in a town could need exactly the same things as a field in Nara – somewhere dry to sit, a little shade and a place where people can meet."

The photography is courtesy of Studio Armitage.