Yo Shimada Lab, Environmental Design, KCUA

TAKASHIMA PRACTICE

An off-campus seminar on regional engagement in Takashima
Venue: Kutsuki area, Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Dates: July 6–19, 2026

Organizer

TAKASHIMA PRACTICE Executive Committee

Committee members

Yuko Shigeta (Chair), Jens Knöpfel (ETH Zürich), Wataru Doi (Kyoto City University of Arts), Kazuya Morita (Kyoto Prefectural University)

Participating universities

ETH Zürich, Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto Prefectural University

Participating students

Kyoto City University of Arts: Kei Ueki, Koito Tsubouchi, Chisa Mimura, Tomoki Imura, Haruto Miyazaki, Taisei Yoshida
Kyoto Prefectural University: Shoma Shimizu, Kei Tanaka, Koro Endo, Gaku Shiraki, Ryoma Terauchi, Yoko Ichikawa, Rio Noguchi
ETH Zürich: Filippo Biasca-Caroni, Jasper Blind, Luca Bötschi, Silvan Geniets, Mustafa Khan, Melissa Roth, Katarzyna Stachnio, Shanshan Tang, Jonathan Troger, Raphael Uhl, Nadjeschda Wyer

Cooperation

Takashima City, Yamawarau, Maruhachi Department Store, Ami Hayashi, Sankakuya, Hiroe Yoshida, Shimamura Yoshi Shoten, Satoshi Ishida, Takashima City Forest Owners’ Cooperative, Kutsuki no Mori, Ryuji Sawada, the Fujimura family, Seikosha, Akiyoshi Tanaka (plasterer), and the local residents of Kutsuki

TAKASHIMA PRACTICE is an experimental project based in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture. Conceived on a time span of five to ten years, it brings together students, architects, and researchers to observe the land of Takashima and the lives of its people, exploring the social, cultural, and material values of the region from multiple angles. By introducing global and cross-generational perspectives into the region, and through reflection and practice unbound by existing frameworks, the project seeks to reconsider what architecture can be in small provincial cities.

Since the modern era, urbanization has concentrated population and capital in major cities, and small provincial cities have often come to exist as mere appendages to them. Yet these small cities hold rich resources and diverse values of their own, and the relationship between metropolis, small city, and countryside is itself shifting away from its conventional form—a tendency seen not only in Japan but throughout the world. For this first edition, the project focused on the Kutsuki area, located in the mountains of western Takashima. Blessed with abundant nature, more than 90% of its total area is covered by forest, wilderness, and rivers. Some 1,500 residents live around Kutsuki-Ichiba, which once flourished as a jin’ya (magistrate’s residence) town, and in the villages scattered through the mountains. Owing to population decline that dates back to before the war, however, the area also faces the serious challenge of depopulation.

For the 2026 seminar, around 25 architecture students from Switzerland and Kyoto stayed in Kutsuki for two weeks. Under the themes of “forest,” “earth,” “life,” and “water,” they explored the townscape, forests, and mountain villages of the area, deepening their understanding of the relationships between land, resources, and production. Working in mixed Japanese–Swiss groups, each team set a research question unique to Kutsuki, learning from local experts and residents about the natural environment, forestry, traditional techniques such as timber construction and earthen walls, and the regional cuisine and ritual customs now at risk of being lost—deepening their own interests and knowledge while pursuing their questions through hands-on experimentation. The outcomes were presented as an exhibition at the Kumase House, a former merchant house in Kutsuki-Ichiba, where residents, visitors, and participants discussed the ideas and questions that had emerged during the seminar, offering an occasion to see Kutsuki from new perspectives. The diverse insights gained as the project continues over the coming years are expected to accumulate as a living archive of Takashima.