On October 26, design fellow Toru met with our client, Mr. Sato, and went to the site to check the state of construction. Construction of the roof has been completed, and with only a few minor fixes to make, the project is very near completion!

Only a few items remaining to be done:
- installation of ventilation fan
- coating of urethane paint to waterproof the floor
- small gaps between containers to be welded with small sheets of metal
- gaps on corrugated sheeting roof to be welded
- foundation smoothing (mostly done)

10/2/2012: Fenestration installation work started. Roofing work got delayed due to a typhoon. The construction will complete in 2-3 weeks.

9/1/2012: Water supply service work completed.
9/14/2012: Electric wiring work completed.
9/18/2012: Roof framing work started.
9/24/2012: Drainage work completed.

The foundation work started by the mid-August, and the containers finally arrived on site on 8/31/2012.

Plan, Elevations and Details

The coordination and work of the water and electricity services have arranged and executed. The contractor, Silhouette Spice, has reported a month delay in fabrication of two containers due to the manufacturer's problems.

Pre-construction meeting with Silhouette Spice, sub-contractors and the clients

Fabrication of containers

After the local government raised the ground level, they also came in to pave the whole site. In the mid-June, we finally received the building permit. The new targeted date for the construction completion is now the end of August.

During the building permit application process, the city requested a couple of revision on the drawings. Meanwhile, the town of Shizugawa decided to raise the ground of our site to the pre-tsunami level. It took a couple of weeks in May, and caused the project delay.

We've applied the building permit, and signed the construction contract. Now we're getting ready to build the banya! According to the schedule, the fishermen will start working at the new banya in June.

Plan

Reflected Ceiling Plan

Japan Team members meeting with the client on site.

A new design fellow, Toru Nakaki, interviewed the owner to finalize the location of openings, the water service and the location of the building on the site. They also talked about the fishermen's workflow to understand their activities and adjacency better to propose the suitable design solutions. Here's the diagrams that Toru created based on the interview.

A lot of things happened since our last update.

The idea of reusing the steel frame structure for our new banya turned out to be a very expensive and difficult solution. We re-evaluated our strategy, and decided a pre-fab building would be more appropriate because it could be disassembled and relocated later if it needs to. The duration of the construction would be less also. We identified a design-build firm in Tokyo that would help us.

In the mid-November, students from Kyoto University of Art and Design (KUAD) came to Shizugawa for their studio project led by Dr. Daijiro Mizuno of Ultrafactory at KUAD and Nathaniel Corum of PacRim Studio and the Head of Education Outreach. Students were put to task among the fishermen to directly experience their lives as fishermen. On November 30, 2011, the studio presented their work. They made a nice film of their experience and observation. We'll share with you after we finish translating it in English.

In the early December, we were all set for proceed. However, the government started to raise the ground level on the site, so we couldn't go into the site until recently.

Currently the design-build firm, Silhouette Spice, is working on the drawings. We're targeting the completion of the construction in the end of March.

It is getting harder and harder to obtain building materials in Tohoku and to find skilled and talented building professionals as reconstruction slowly progresses. We're talking to several local contractors and architects to see if we can salvage some building materials from an existing steel frame greenhouse and a performance stage made of precious Japanese Cypress (Hinoki) to use for the banya. We'll have a big meeting with them to figure out the logistics and feasibility of this endeavor in next week or so. Hopefully we can come up with some creative solutions!

We're investigating the possibility of reusing the steel framing of this existing green house for the banya.

This temporary performance stage is made of Japanese Cypress (Hinoki), and they're looking for a good home for this material. Hinoki is considered as the best building material in Japan, and used for many shrines including Ise Shrine.

Sato-san shows us the make-shift workplace that they use for now. This is very far from their port, so they would like to have a similar structure (hopefully enclosed so that they can work in frigid Tohoku winter).

Kazuya Sato, one of Shizugawa fishermen, introduces us the current state of their port as well as what they want for their future.

Japanese version:

English version:

Design Fellow, Autumn Taira, introduces us Shizugawa. The town was devastated by the tsunami, but they are facing another big challenge to rebuild their town and livelihood back up.

Architecture for Humanity Japan team decided to help these fishermen to build a temporary workplace, which a portion of it could be converted into a market/oyster bar in future once their aquafirming business back and running.