University's Housing Project to Revive Communities in Tohoku Region's Disaster-Stricken Areas

Copyright Kogakuin University

Osamu Goto, professor of the School of Architecture at Kogakuin University in Japan, and his team have been working on a project to build permanent wooden houses for survivors of the Great East Japan　Earthquake since April 2011. The project aims to contribute to the revival of warm-hearted villages which had existed in the Tohoku region before the earthquake. MonotaRo, a Japanese online store handling　building materials and tools, and local volunteers have been participating in the project.

Unlike temporary housing supplied by the government, which will be taken down in two years, this project intends to offer permanent housing to earthquake survivors at low cost with a long-term vision of supporting community-building. The project also has a plan to build a rather large house where elderly, single survivors and disaster orphans can live together.

The team has rented land on high ground in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, from a volunteer local landowner. As a model project, they will build a total of 11 houses including a two-story wooden house with a total area of 62.7 square meters, a one-story house with an area of 42.9 square meters, and a multipurpose house with an area of 108.9 square meters.

The project's costs can be reduced by using software developed by MonotaRo, which makes the logistical process of purchasing building materials much more efficient. Using domestic lumber, carpenters from the disaster area will build the houses with local traditional construction methods. This is expected to help support the area's economy.

After the project is completed, Kogakuin University will lend the houses to a non-profit organization (NPO) for free and the NPO will be in charge of administration and management of the houses. Monthly rents are low, 27,000 yen (U.S.$333) for a two-story house and 20,000 yen (about U.S.$247) for a one-story house. The project is currently funded by donations from the private sector and individuals that Kogakuin has raised as part of its 125th anniversary initiative. The university hopes to get funding from the national government in the near future and inspire more projects sharing the same vision of reviving communities.

Posted: 2011/11/07 06:00:15 AM