A Park at the Former Site of Lake Biwa Hotel

Yanagasaki Lakeside Park is located at the end of the peninsula on the shore of Lake Biwa, approximately one kilometer away from Nishi-Otsu Station. It was built to utilize the former site of the Lake Biwa Hotel. The former Lake Biwa Hotel was a historical hotel that opened in 1929 as the first international tourist hotel in Shiga Prefecture. Therefore we decided to preserve and utilize the main building of the hotel as a historical heritage. For the outdoor spaces, to enable visitors to enjoy the seasons, we designed three gardens (the Cherry Garden, the Knot Garden, and the English Garden) and expanding lawns from the hotel building to the lakeside, and installed a terrace at the restaurant.