buried souvenir shop on japanese shoreline reflects on tourism, land, and memory

Naoshi Kondo buries a souvenir shop in Atami’s sandy beach

Buried Souvenir Shop is a temporary commercial structure designed by Naoshi Kondo as part of the ATAMI ART GRANT 2025, supported by Pasona Art Now. Located directly on the sandy beach of Atami, Japan, the project reinterprets the familiar typology of the souvenir shop by partially embedding it in the ground.

The installation operates as a functioning retail space while simultaneously serving as a spatial study of tourism’s relationship to land and memory. Its tilted form is half-buried in the sand, recalling the act of concealing and revealing objects, a gesture drawn from childhood play at the beach. Through this gesture, the project transforms an everyday commercial building into an architectural exploration of perception and site.

Buried Souvenir Shop merges commerce and installation art

Inside, the shop sells real souvenirs, but its orientation and placement make the surrounding landscape part of the visitor experience. The ocean is framed through a single large opening, turning the view itself into a component of the retail environment. Constructed under temporary-building regulations and assembled directly on-site, the project merges pragmatic and conceptual objectives. By situating a working shop within the shifting terrain of the beach, designer Naoshi Kondo questions conventional boundaries between architecture and land use, tourism and place-making, commerce and installation art.

project info:

name: Buried Souvenir Shop – ATAMI ART GRANT 2025
designer: Naoshi Kondo

location: Atami beach, Japan

supported by: Pasona art now

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