Impact

A rest stop in front of the rice fields of Mii-machi, Wajima, Ishikawa, built with old timber rescued by Noto Fukko Lab and others from houses demolished after the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. Design and construction were carried out with students from Japan and abroad during “AA Visiting School Japan × VUILD,” a 12-day hands-on program held jointly with the Architectural Association School of Architecture in the UK. It is now used as a resting place for volunteers involved in the recovery and as a stopping point for local residents.

Seihakusai, the spring festival of Nanao, Ishikawa, was canceled due to the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. To give children a chance to experience their local festival, an event featuring “Chibi Dekayama,” a model of the festival’s Dekayama float, was held at the 4th Ipponsugi Recovery Marché on Children’s Day. In a town still showing the damage, children pulled the float to the celebratory songs of the Uomachi young men’s association.

VUILD handled the spatial design and an ema workshop for MOKUMOKU KIDS TOWN, the kids’ space at Rakuten OPTIMISM held from August 2 to 6, 2023. Under the theme of a “children’s town” assembled from modules, furniture at stool and table height for adults was arranged into a three-dimensional play space for children. A workshop in which participants completed a wall artwork together was also held.

A shop and facility completed on Shodoshima, Kagawa, for olive cultivation, research and development, production, and sales. It functions as a “gate” through which visitors observe olive cultivation and pressing and experience the island’s climate and landscape, and as a “lounge” where hosts and guests interact. A construction approach in which the designer and client build together was adopted, making it an example of architecture built with the island’s own resources.

A lodging facility in which everything from timber sourcing to processing and construction was completed within a 10 km radius using digital fabrication. Addressing the decline of forestry and depopulation, a “jointly owned” lodging facility of local timber was built in a village of about 600 people, proposing a way of living that is “more than tourism, less than migration,” with people visiting the mountain village regularly. It is jointly owned by investors who took part in crowdfunding, a form of ownership between a home and lodging.

A village built jointly by five households in Akita. Using local forest resources and digital fabrication, five houses reinterpreting traditional Akita farmhouses were built with community participation. The five clients formed a cooperative, received a loan from a regional bank, and jointly own the land and buildings under a housing finance scheme developed as a commons. When vacant, the houses are rented as lodging, also serving as a base for visitors who maintain ties with the area. It was planned as a new model for living in satoyama, where heavy rains and bear incidents continue.

An educational incubation facility built as a project exploring next-generation learning. As a place to implement future public education, it required an expandable space without a fixed final form and an experimental structure that itself serves as teaching material. It starts with only a large roof and machines, planned on the premise that users add spaces as needed. The CNC machine that cut the formwork is installed inside, allowing users to experience advanced manufacturing technology.

A pilot project for “demountable urban timber construction,” designed for relocation and reuse, on a narrow urban lot too small even for parking. The aim was to secure as much leasable floor area as possible within the site and cost constraints. With a facade that expresses the building’s composition and semi-private spaces for office workers in the Kabutocho and Kayabacho area, it combines fire performance, environmental performance, and timber interiors.