Japan 2011Mêmu Meadows
Mêmu Meadows is the reforming of a racehorse farm (Taiki Farm) into research, education, and training facilities exploring sustainable solutions for architecture and cities. The project consists of two parts: The first is a group of experimental houses built in the grasslands. The second is the renovation of former horse stables and the indoor riding arena into university laboratories, accommodation, and training facilities.
The former stables were renovated into accommodation facilities, a conversion of housing for horses to housing for humans. Parts of the indoor arena with its circular 30-meter-long track were transformed into a restaurant and bar. State-of-the-art environmental technology was deployed in these renovation designs.
We designed the first experimental house in 2011. Every following year a competition took place where the selected work was to be built. The buildings designed by Waseda University (2011), Keio University (2012), Harvard University (2013), and the University of California, Berkeley (2014) have been built with students participating in the construction process. In the future, the hope is to have a sustainable housing village unlike any other in the world that will emerge in the prairies.
