This project, funded in part by Keio University’s Environmental Innovators Program, includes an integrated community meeting place and bathhouse, set for spring completion. The compact building will house separate baths and changing rooms for men and women, plus a boiler room and multipurpose space. Due to the lack of supplies and skilled labor, architect Hiroto Kobayashi, a professor at the university, and his students devised a clever construction system using interlocking plywood panels, which can be easily assembled by the team itself with simple hand tools.

ARCHITECT: Hiroto Kobayashi, Keio University.

BUDGET: N/A.

CONTEXT: When the public bath (On-sen) was closed at the Heisei no Mori temporary housing area in Minami Sanriku, the residents found themselves in need of a replacement. Architect Hiroto Kobayashi of Keio University was invited to create a two-phase project with his students to satisfy that need.