Urban Redevelopment of Otsuchi - JP

Scale models of the post-earthquake reconstruction plan for the district of Akahama in Otsuchi town, Japan. Due to the tragic tsunami deluge of Otsuchi on March 11, 2011, 52% of the residential area (= 431ha) was submerged underwater and 1,284 lives were lost. The death toll reduced the population by nearly 10%. About 4,000 people who lost their houses are still living in temporary housing scattered over 48 sites.

The town of Otsuchi established a Master Plan for Reconstruction on December 26, 2011, which provides the hazard area maps based on the tsunami simulation, and highlights priority projects including town re-demarcation, collective relocation of residents, school relocation, public housing construction and other related projects. After the devastation caused by the Tsunami of 2011, the district was levelled to a higher hill and new housing solutions were also proposed to facilitate escape in case of emergency. 

The models were developed in 2012 during an architecture trainee period of 6 months at Tokyo University in partnership with Office of Yasushi Onodera. I was assigned to develop a set of scale models to represent the masterplan for the reconstruction of Akahama district.

The project with its models and presentation boards were presented to the community in 2012 in a town meeting. The reconstruction was scheduled to begin in June 2014 and scheduled to be completed by May 2017.

Team Mayra Reis, Shinji Kamijo & Aya Kubota
Client Otsuchi Municipality
Project Management Tokyo University - TODAI
Year 2012
Role Model maker
Category Urban Design
Stage Under construction
Location Japan