2013

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Maeamihama, Miyagi, Japan

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The Maeamihama Veneer House is a community center for a town damaged severely by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The building includes a gathering space and a storehouse for the victims. It was constructed by volunteers of the local fishermen's union using local forest thinnings for material. The entire construction process was diagrammatically illustrated in a construction manual, so that the process could be easily understood without design drawings. This reduced errors during construction and ensured that all personnel were able to understand the sequence of construction. In addition to the manual, the construction progress was shared in detail among all persons involved through the internet. This Veneer House, which re purposes local resources using advanced prefabrication technology, is one step in the exploration and development of an innovative “fast, low-cost, and easy” construction method.