Located at the foot of Mt. Yatsugatake, Kobuchizawa Station is the gateway to the Yatsugatake tourist area and is crowded with many tourists and climbers. The most important issue for this project was to organize traffic flow lines so that the plaza in front of the station would be safe for both users and the neighborhood. To take advantage of the site shape, which is long and narrow in the east-west direction, a one-way traffic flow plan was adopted, with cars entering from the west and returning to the front road via a roundabout on the east side, to clarify the vehicular flow plan.
　The aging retaining wall that separates the 4-meter difference in elevation from the JR tracks was also renewed in this project. The retaining wall, which is based on the motif of field-stacked stone walls seen in this region since ancient times, spans 140m in length from east to west, and is a “lean-to” type retaining wall made of rusted stones from Shodoshima piled on a reinforced concrete frame, including large stones 1.8m wide.
　Users of the new station building climb the stairs located in the middle of the platform and cross the overpass to reach the ticket gate on the second floor. The ticket gate level has a two-tiered structure with JR offices, a social space, and a waiting room, and a tourist information center and stores on the lower level.
　The Kobuchisawa area is home to a large number of native red pine forests. Therefore, the exterior of the first floor is made of red pine with a 105 mm square cross section divided into triangular pieces. The second floor, on the other hand, is made of thick aluminum sheets coated with a fluorocarbon resin baking finish to minimize the risk of iron dust adhering to the trackbed. The basic color scheme of both materials is earth tones, which are in keeping with the popularity of horseback riding in Kobuchisawa.
　The aluminum panels and inverted trapezoidal glass façade that characterize the exterior are a meta-physical representation of the landscape of the Yatsugatake Mountains, the Southern Alps, and the stream that runs along the ridge.
　The canopies on the east and west sides are based on the motif of the clear water of Kobuchisawa, and are made of spherical stainless steel sheets cut in free curved planes like water droplets.
　The design of the Kobuchizawa station building and station plaza was intended to express the character of Kobuchizawa by making extensive use of indigenous materials and imagery, and by finding regional characteristics.