New Commons: Sustaining Rural Japanese Regionalisms through the Re-Inhabitation of Public Schools

I am a student in the Masters of Architecture at the University of Waterloo. My thesis focuses on the repurposing of buildings and the cultural connections architecture can have to its local communities, in the context of rural Japan. Through the Mitacs Globalink JSPS summer program, I plan to conduct the fieldwork of my thesis, interview with Japanese experts on the subject and access research resources unique to Japan. I plan to travel to Japan and visit three rural sites undergoing depopulation and, with the resulting research and documentation, propose an adaptive re-use project that will preserve cultural production and local economies. I will compile my fieldwork conducted in Japan and produce a document, in English and Japanese, that highlights cultures and traditions integral to my sites of interest that will later serve as an educational tool for communities and other architects. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Jane Hutton

Student:

Partner:

The University of Tokyo

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Waterloo

Program: