Current Students Rebuild Projects
Paper Crane Sculpture (折鶴オブジェ) – Installed at Sendai Station
Sendai, Japan. Students from the Tohoku University of Art & Design have created a large sculpture using paper cranes folded by Students Rebuild supporters. The sculpture will be unveiled during a 3-day public workshop on January 13-15 at the Sendai Train Station, where it will remain on display until finding a permanent home in a four Tohoku public school. At the unveiling, over a thousand local youth will collaborate to fill gift boxes with paper cranes and send them to children acrosss Japan as a gesture of hope and optimism. Partner: Tohoku University of Art & Design. Cost: $20,000.
Recent Paper Crane Sculpture Blog Updates:
January 20, '12 - Paper Cranes for Japan in the News!
January 16, '12 - Sendai Youth Collaborate for a 'Better World'
January 14, '12 - Live from Sendai: Paper Crane Workshop Update
January 12, '12 - Paper Cranes for Japan Fly Home
January 6, '12 - Gift by Gift for a Better World
December 23, '11 - Paper Crane Sculpture Construction Update
Kashiwagi Daycare Center Addition (柏木保育園の増築) – Design Development
Sendai, Japan. The Kashiwagi Daycare Center suffered only minor damage from the 2011 earthquake. However, they have agreed to accept many students from surrounding daycare facilities that were damaged by the earthquake and/or tsunami. An urgent expansion is underway, which will allow the center to accommodate additional students next spring. Students Rebuild is sponsoring the construction of an outdoor learning and play space. Partner: Hiroto Suzuki Architects & Associates. Cost: $40,000.
Additional Japan Reconstruction Projects
While the projects below aren't directly supported by Students Rebuild, they play an important role in Architecture for Humanity's commitment to bring prosperity, opportunity, and community to young people in the Tohoku region. Take a look!Ooya Green Sports Park (大谷グリーンスポーツパーク) – Complete
Motoyoshi, Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan. After the tsunami hit northern Japan, many sports fields and playgrounds at local schools were re-purposed as sites for temporary housing. These housing units may stay as long as three years, disallowing school kids access to sports facilities. At the Ooya Junior High School all of the sports grounds have been overtaken by temporary homes. The coach of the schools soccer team also happens to be an asparagus farmer and has generously donated his land to be a sports field for the school -- thus was born the Ooya Green Sports Park. Designed by Design Fellows Tomoro Aida and Aida Atelier, this simple design utilizes disused fishing equipment to build a protective sports compound and re-purposes debris for seating. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 5, 2011, and the park aims to open early in the new year. Partner: Nike. Cost: $78,000.
Shizugawa Judo Juku (志津川柔道塾) – Design Development
Shizugawa, Minami-sanriku-cho, Miyagi, Japan. Almost every junior high and senior high schools in Japan has its own Judo team, but Shizugawa is special for having a school in the town where elementary school, junior high, and high school students all train together. The original location of the school was completely washed away; today, nothing remains but the foundation. Most of the students’ and instructors’ homes did not fare much better. Currently, the students are practicing Judo in a partitioned part of a fishing warehouse belonging to one of the student’s family. Due to loss of life and displacement, the current size of the dojo is less than one-third the size of a normal one. We are going to winterize the space and add a door: the frigid Tohoku winter is coming just around the corner! Cost: $7,500.
Covered Alley (赤浜地区仮設住宅の雁木で育てる小さなコミュニティ) – In Construction
Otsuchi-cho, Kamihei-gun, Iwate, Japan. Akahama village lost 100 residents out of 900. Most of the survivors moved into temporary housing. Though people are expected to stay in the temporary housing for at least 2 the years, they are prepared to be there for much longer, as they learned from 1995 Kobe Earthquake, when slow reconstruction delayed victims’ return to their own homes or to newly developed public housing) Because of the unplanned placement of residents and the layout of units, a sense of community in the temporary camp is lacking. With the help from NPO Midori-no-ie School, the community proposed a covered alley between units built on a slope in order to connect upper units and lower units. Currently, residents have to walk on a steep slope, and they are worried snow and ice on the slope in the winter will make the terrain extremely dangerous to walk on. Partner: Residents of Akahama Temporary Housing Complex. Cost: $51,000.
Hikado Marketplace (ひかど市場) – Complete
Kesennuma-shi, Motoyoshi-cho, Miyagi, Japan. The Hikado Marketplace is a prominent local gathering space, and one of the first local buildings to be reconstructed following the tsunami. Architecture for Humanity lent design and construction support for a covered wooden deck made of salvaged timber. The project was completed in June 2011. The owner, carpenters and all parties involved making this project a reality had an opening celebration in July 2011. In the beginning of August, people from three neighboring communities utilized the space to hold a very successful summer festival. Today, people moved into nearby temporary housing come and enjoy a bowl of ramen noodles for lunch and a glass of cold beer after work. Cost: $9,000.
Recent Updates on Architecture for Humanity's Tohoku Rebuilding Program
January 5, '12 - Tohoku Rebuilds for Youth
November 21, '11 - It Takes a Village: An Update from Architecture for Humanity
June 10, '11 - Meet Design Fellow Hiromi Tabei