Students Rebuld is leveraging funding raised from the Paper Cranes for Japan initiative to support reconstruction in some of the worst-hit neighborhoods and villages recovering from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Below, you'll find a brief overview of the projects and proposals that have been selected to receive Students Rebuild's support. As construction moves forward at these sites over coming months, you can look forward to more extensive updates from the field!

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

Kitakami "We Are One" Market and Youth Center （北上ウィー・アー・ワン・コラボラティブ）- In Construction

Kitakami, Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Japan. Naomi Sato is originally from Ishinomaki. Before the earthquake, she worked as an accountant at a local general contractor’s office. Since 2009, she also worked as a member of the Kitakami Redevelopment Committee for the city of Ishinomaki with the city representative, Mr. Konno. She lost her husband to the earthquake, and now lives with their three children. She got depressed after the quake, but quickly realized she has to move forward with her family. She organized the Kitakami “We Are One” Market planning committee with other mothers in the temporary housing complex. The planning committee consisting of five mothers from the area would like to build a youth center to provide students a safe place to stay after school. The center would be next to a market where mothers can work and watch neighbors’ children at the same time.

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.

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