The Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture, is an educational institution established to provide practical multidisciplinary education in the fields of forestry and wood utilization, environmental education, wooden architecture, and woodwork.
Project description by Kengo Kuma
This is a facility for education programs to teach the multifaceted functions of forests.
Workshops are repeatedly held with students of the academy under the lean-to roof with a large overhang which is supported by logs cut down from the forest in a V-shaped configuration, creating a very open space.
One-hundred year old Japanese cypress logs in the research forest adjoining the academy were cut down by students majoring in Forestry studies, and used in combination with cedar planks that still have the bark on for the doorjambs and mullion for the openings. Therefore, the materials themselves are used in the design to teach forestry education.
Earth from the site and earth from Gifu Prefecture were applied to the symbolic walls by Syuhei Hasado, a plasterer from the prefecture, in a process that resembles a 12-layered ceremonial kimono.
