Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects
Shingo Masuda and Katsuhisa Otsubo looked at Western Bruges through an Eastern lens. What struck them? That the brick buildings in the compact city centre are close together. And that just about every place there has a function.
Shingo Masuda and Katsuhisa Otsubo wanted to break through that pattern. With empty drop, a geometric brick structure, they are celebrating the emptiness in densely built-up Bruges. They are creating a new, open meeting place. These were inspired by Akakura Shrine, a metres-high rock surrounded by a cedar forest. Many Japanese people perform nature rituals there and seek connection. empty drop also connects you to Mother Earth: the work stands among the fruit trees and is actually an ingenious natural product … as the approximately 11,000 bricks that make up empty drop were made from fired clay.
_
