The Living Environment Design Department looks into the practice and research on ways to sustain the historical context and create new designs for the future from the perspectives of the living environments and the people.

To create new designs for the future, we are collaborating with Aalto University from Finland on societal design. Finland is known to be the forefront in the field of welfare. This project uses the methodology of Design Fiction to propose and verify structures that society requires in the future. Also, we are exploring the possibilities of employing this method in Japan in two ways. One, nurturing social entrepreneurs on the technique through classes conducted with the theme “family-friendly future”, looking at the child-raising environment in 2030. Second, we are working with Fukutsu Municipal in Fukuoka Prefecture to research on the impact of involving citizens in societal design to determine child-raising policies.

To design for the future, we need to know the past. To develop new sustainable cities, we need to consider the existing buildings and the people living in it. In many Asian cities with accelerating growth, many of the old buildings were replaced by new buildings or they are ignored and lead to a dilapidated state. Such development affects the lives of people and their culture and history. For this matter, the department strives to nurture capable people to preserve the urban heritage in Asia. We organized “International Research-Educational Program of Urban Heritage” to develop people who will be responsible for the next generation.

Thus, for the Living Environment Design Department, we aim to establish a methodology suitable for living environment design for the past and the future.