Ishinomaki City under water.
Ishinomaki Architecture Workshop is an initiative launched to help the reconstruction of one of the most damaged city of Miyagi Region following the Tsunami of 11march 2011 (see maps below). IAW will set up architecture workshops in Ishinomaki to help citizen to plan the reconstruction of their city and neighbourhoods. During work session of around ten days, IAW will gather academics, professionals and students from Belgium and Japan familiar with the context of Miyagi. During these workshops, they will engage a multidisciplinary process of collaboration with inhabitant and local authorities in order to foresee sustainable and equitable reconstruction projects. As a result the workshop wish to act both as a think-tank brainstorming and an intensive design process.
The workshop is organized by the faculty of architecture of the University of Brussels together with the Tohoku University, local architects and authorities, and will be held from July 20th until August 3rd on site.
« The city was among the most seriously affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. A tsunami about 10 meters high traveled 600 meters inland and destroyed around 80% of the 700 houses. Approximately 46% of the city was inundated by the tsunami.One elementary school, Okawa Elementary, was completely destroyed, killing 74 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers and staff. As of 17 June 2011, a total of 3,097 deaths had been confirmed in Ishinomaki due to the tsunami, with 2,770 unaccounted for. The earthquake shifted the city southeast and downward, lowering it by as much as 1.2 m in some areas and causing it to flood twice daily at high tide. »




