Onsen Pavilion
a place for music, friends, eating, relaxation and swimming
Wellesley, MA
Onsen Pavilion, Wellesley, MA
a place for music, friends, eating, relaxation and swimming
A pavilion and its integrated landscape were designed as a unified whole—a place of respite to host friends, relax, dine, play piano, listen to jazz, and embrace the Japanese art of bathing, onsen. The pavilion was conceived to be as open as it is enclosed, blurring the boundaries between indoors and outdoors. Materials flow seamlessly inside and out, with vast expanses of glass and doors that disappear into walls, enhancing this connection to the surrounding landscape.
This sense of openness is heightened by the juxtaposition of a secondary, more diminutive flat-roofed volume that offers a counterpoint—solid versus transparent. This secondary form discreetly houses the more utilitarian functions: kitchen, WC, and showers—all tucked away to remain unobtrusive. Clad in dark Accoya wood, inside and out, its skin further reinforces the dissolving boundary between architecture and nature.