Scaling New Ground in post-tsunami Minami-sanriku

About half-hour after the M9 earthquake that shook the eastern seaboard towns of Japan’s Tohoku region, residents stared in awe at the sight of seeing the emptied out bottom of their harbor. Then minutes later, the wall of tsunami surged in toward the shores now swelling up the harbor, high over its breakwaters and onto the waterfront, swallowing up fishing-boats, roads, cars, buildings, and their homes. Today, almost eleven months have past and the scene in general is much at an eerie standstill. This studio attempts to take up one scenario of what may be contemplated as a step towards the region’s reconstruction.

Design Inquiry:
Premise One – the lowland area, formerly the bustling area of fisheries, shopping streets, commerce and housing are now declared as non-habitable, restricted to non-residential land use. Presently, this former downtown area now lies flattened to its base, stripped of trees and landscape, marked only by neatly sorted mounds of debris, concrete rubble, and subsided waterfront piers. No trace of the former town geography remains.
Premise Two – in Minami-sanriku, some six-thousand survivors of the 3.11 disaster are currently housed in “temporary housing” – approximately 2,196 pre-fab units, slated to be their homes for two to five years. The government plans to relocate these residents to “higher ground” allotments away from the coastline – land they will clear and bring new infrastructure. Thus far, for various reasons, there is widespread doubt and resistance by many to take up this offer, move, and construct their would-be permanent homes.

This studio examines another strategy to the above post-disaster planning paradigm.

Design Project: Architecture of Viral Interventions

Between the waterfront lowland and the planned higher ground lies the local railroad line that now remains in ruins – twisted rails and train stations destroyed. At the elevation above sea-level of approximately 17-meters, at mid-slope above the former town, exists this horizontal continuous ledge of new ground – the Kesen-numa line ␣␣␣␣ which connected the beautiful inlet bays and fishing towns along the seacoast. JR has no plans to restore the former railroad service yet is seeking ways to continue its asset as a transportation infrastructure to serve the region.

This studio will explore the various design options for viral interventions along this horizontal spine - this new ground as an emergent community hub of housing and mixed-use, a greenway and mobility-on-demand connecting adjacent towns, schools and services, walkable access to the harbor and to places of work.

Each of the former rail stations will transform to be a nexus, a town center between the forest and the sea, a node along the linear development of sequential seacoast sights and villages. The post-disaster Tohoku can restore its vital fisheries and timber industry and this new ground of Minami-sanriku will activate an in-migration of virtual community and resurgent eco-tourism vital to its economic recovery.

Final products of the studio work will include scaled models, drawings and a documented report of student work and collateral information.