Inujima: architecture becomes environment

Inujima is a small island in a quiet inland sea called Seto Naikai. You can walk around the entire island in about 1 to 2 hours.

Once flourishing with industries as copper refining and stone quarrying, it is said that this small island had a population of 5000 people. However, along with the decline in the industries, the population on the island declined progressively, and now there are only about 50 islanders. The average age of the islanders is about 80 years old and the aging population and depopulation now remarkably limit the development of the settlement.

Various sceneries appear as you take a walk around this island created by gentle hills. The island has a gently sloping landscape so that, as you walk, the sea is continually coming into view right next to you before disappearing again. Basins, which remain from the old quarries, appear in various points on the island as ponds. Though only one stone quarry remains active now, the ambiance of the time when quarries were thriving remains as these ponds create a landscape of its own. The old copper refinery is preserved as a heritage of industrial modernization and is now partially used as an art museum.

Adjacent to the refinery, in the village, the “Inujima Art House Project” started in 2010 and empty homes and lots were transformed into exhibition spaces with careful attention to preserve the special characteristics of the place. In this way, the landscape started slowly changing. The island now attracts 30,000 visitors per year. 

Please study thoroughly Inujima’s landscape, history, resources and context, analyzing the island as a whole, within which interconnected items are spread.

Based on your analysis, please develop a proposal for a project that establishes a clear relationship between the artificial and the natural landscape, between architecture and environment. The island as a whole is a place where architecture ultimately becomes the environment.

Describe how the island would change through your project: what are the new relationships that your project establishes between inhabitants and visitors, nature and man-made construction, art and local life?

How does your project trigger a transformation of the island? How does your project determine a new environment for the island?

The proposal should be developed in a free and yet respectful and sensitive way. Students will work on Inujima island to understand the potentialities of the place and to create a program able to enhance the beauty of the place. Students will work in small group of 3 and they will be engaged with the site and the environment of Inujima.

The exam will consist in a final oral presentation in which each project will be discussed and evaluated. Each group will have to develop the design with models and drawings at different scale. All the materials and information about Inujima will be available on Beep or dropbox.

During the semester there will be reviews and critical discussions on the development of the work, attendance to lectures and reviews is mandatory and necessary to follow the course.

The following indicators will be considered for the evaluation: knowledge and understading, applying knowledge and understanding, making judgements, communication skills, learning skills. The final exam will be organized as a critical seminar with evaluation at the end of the course.

in JA The Japan Architect, vol. 99, pp. 155,