“Considering Contemporary Art and the Local Region”
While studying trends in contemporary art through lectures and research that examined the relationship between contemporary art and the local region, and the significance and function of international exhibitions after the earthquake, we undertook fieldwork to survey art (sculpture) in Sendai, and all of the students wrote articles on their findings. These were in turn published in the fourth issue of S-meme, a journal which, as in its first three issues, continues to boast a cutting-edge format.
PBL Studio 2 : Environmental Axis
“Sendai Oasis / Blue-Green Studio 3”
By taking advantage of ecosystems such as tidal flats, wetlands, lakes and marshes, waterways, and paddy fields, we designed an optimal relationship between a green infrastructure, which does not rely on conventional mega-infrastructure, and living environments adjacent to bodies of water. Based on this theme, which has continually been examined since the beginning of this studio, we also considered an environmental design for a large-scale waterway plan that would switch to regulating reservoirs as part of a reconstruction project for the Sendai plain.
PBL Studio 3 : Social Axis
“Post-Sympathy Place”
In the restoration process that began after the Great East Japan Earthquake, preserving the memories and culture of individual hamlets that are targeted for mass relocation is viewed as a vital element in maintaining the communities and creating a new town in the future. By engaging in dialogues based on the medium of film, we set out to recover neglected memories and landscapes by planning and holding film screenings in the six different disaster-stricken districts in Iwanuma.
PBL Studio 4 : Communication Axis
“Designing Ways of Working: Using Sendai to Its Fullest”
The ways in which people work change according to the diversity of employment, the fluidity and type of occupation, and social media. The places in which people work change based on telecommuting, shared offices, and personal fabrication. While creating a circuit (called “finding, fostering, sharing”) of places where it was easy to work in the city, we devised ideas for help people design their own way of working.
Future Lab 3
“Visualizing a Smart Community of the Near Future”
Along with specialists and operational mangers of essentially natural energy sources such as wind and water, and thermal environments and topographies that are used to create living environments, we examined the literacy level in smart communities, the visualization of information, and the application of such information in the design of a community.
Creator-in-Residence Program
“Which Is Moving; People or Architecture?”
Due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, a huge number of people and things were moved, but once a building is constructed it is generally never moved from the site. Inviting a lecturer, assistant who questioned this type of building construction, we produced a hut in the courtyard. Several months later, we moved the hut to Nara along with other parts that were produced in other regions for use as part of a house.
Interactive Lecture
“Interior Design on the Boundary Line”
This lecture focused on ideas about interior design that are generally not put into words and considered multidisciplinary experiments in this genre.
