Photography: Niitsu Shashin

This building has been renovated in an association with the establishment of Kinki University Research Institute of Bio-Coke. Presenting revolutionary effects in achieving a low carbon society, bio-coke is a biomass fuel that can be made from plant matter, including what had been considered waste materials, such as used tea leaves. In other words, it is a technology that embraces the environment of a new era. The spatial design attempted to spatialize a low carbon cycle itself: bio cokes are accumulated and laminated → the energy as a mass fills the space → the bio cokes are fed into a fireplace → the heat stored in the rocks warms up the space by transmitting the heat through the floor → wavering white vapor caused by a rising air current floats in the air. The goal was to achieve a spatial environment that gently embraces human activities.