On Saturday, February 14th, a furniture unveiling ceremony was held at the residence of Toshiyo Takatsu (Fukuchi Town, Tagawa District) for the "Fukuchi Town Wooden House Renovation Project," which is being undertaken by five students from the Furniture Space Design Studio (Lecturer Takeshi Kondo's Laboratory) of Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering Department of Housing and Interior.
The project is in collaboration with Fukuchi Town, and involves proposing and carrying out renovations of old wooden houses from a student perspective.This time, the students presented and introduced the furniture design process, which incorporated additional requests from the students, in addition to the gallery reception counter and cafe counter that they proposed on Friday, July 25th, for the wooden house of Toshiyo Takatsu, an artist who lives in the town and works on CG art and illustrations.
First, let's take a look at the gallery reception counter. Most of the storage is made up of movable shelves, and the shelves are designed to be freely adjustable in height to accommodate envelopes and packing paper of various sizes. In addition, perforated board is used on the front of the counter, allowing users to decorate it as they like using metal parts, creating an eye-catching design that will attract visitors as they enter through the entrance.
The cafe counter, introduced next, is designed to be easy to work in by making all four pieces of furniture the same height. It can be flexibly adapted to different situations, such as storing large items on the adjustable shelves. In addition, we focused on the painting process, which determines the texture of the furniture, and paid close attention to everything from the preliminary surface treatment to the way the paint is applied, to prevent the uneven color that is typical of wood.
The local residents who participated on the day were able to touch the actual furniture and were interested in its design and functionality. Takatsu commented, "I felt it was great to be able to take a fresh look at this place that I inherited from my parents and connect it to a place where people come and go. I would like to continue creating places like this and make use of this furniture. I hope that the university students will continue to be active in connecting with this town and other places."
Kino Risa (Kumamoto Kita High School), a third-year student in the same department, said, "When I saw the furniture actually installed, it blended in with the space even better than I had imagined, and it gave me a great sense of accomplishment. I was very happy to receive so many compliments throughout the unveiling ceremony. It was also impressive to see people's surprise and excitement at how much thought had gone into the details I had put into it." Kawakami Saya (Chikushi Chuo High School) commented, "First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the teachers and other students who were involved in the production. The cafe counter required a lot of labor and I could never have completed it alone, and even during the production process there was no sign of it being completed, so I was in a state of anxiety, so I feel more relieved than anything."
Lecturer Kondo, who was in charge of the project, reflected on the activities, saying, "At the unveiling ceremony, we received feedback from many people, which I think gave the students in charge confidence. This furniture making is just the first step in connecting the university and Fukuchi Town. In the future, we would like to continue our activities, including other projects, in collaboration with the government so that students can be continuously involved."
[Department of Housing and Interior]
