Prof. Ryo Yamazaki Shared Experiences to Prevent Floods through Project Community Design

Prof. Ryo Yamazaki

Prof. Ryo Yamazaki is a founder and director of Studio-L, an organization that empowers the groups involved in various design projects to solve the problems of local communities. Mr. Yamazaki is a professor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, where he leads the Department of Interior Design in Faculty of Art and Design. He has published several works, including Komyuniti Dezain (Community of Design) and Manchi no Kofuku ron (Contented Communities). Yamazaki is also one of the pioneers in the post-disaster restoration project of Tohoko city.   The disaster that happened in Tohoku city enabled architects to work hand-in-hand to re-establish that small city. Yamazaki understood that to overcome the disaster, the most important thing was to build a community that could mutually support and help each other. Yamazaki?s focus is to build or design a community (Komyuniti Dezain/Community of Design) and to educate members to not solely think of themselves but also to consider others, especially when and after a disaster occurs. Yamazaki?s idea has successfully changed the perspectives of many Japanese architects in order to respond quickly after such disaster occurs.

The vision and mission of Studio-L was defined by Yamazaki to provide training for the purpose of building communities to tackle natural disasters in other countries who suffer a similar disaster. The program included a seminar, workshop, and exhibition.

The event was held at UPH from 16-27 March, 2015 and was a sub-event of the Studio-L project which was partnered with Japan Foundation in Indonesia. A similar program will be held at campuses all over Indonesia, including Architecture at Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) Medan on 25 March, 2015 and Insititut Teknologi Surabaya (ITS) on 27 March, 2015.

Workshop Comunity Design

As part of the event, UPH received an honor for serving as host of the Japanese architectural exhibition that represented the situation on the ground after an earthquake and tsunami attacked Japan on 11 March, 2011. The exhibition took place for 12 days from 16-27 March 2015 at building D, UPH Karawaci. In addition to the exhibition, UPH held a seminar with a theme of ?Community Empowerment by Design Thinking? delivered by Prof. Ryo Yamazaki himself with a different, yet interesting concept. Following the seminar, 40 students from UPH Architecture and other majors joined a ?Community Design? project which divided the students into 6 groups.

?I hope that through this event, the visitors could gain more knowledge about how the Tohoku people worked hard to break out of the devastation and eventually could serve as an inspiration for architects and the public in how to tackle the effects of natural disasters?, said Ogawa, General Director of Japan Foundation Jakarta.(fc)