Architects Eager to Help Devastated Japan today

On March 30, architect Hisaya Sugiyama, head of Japan's chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), sent a detailed and captivating letter to AIA members. In it, Sugiyama, who is principal of Tokyo’s Quincy Studio, put forward specific ideas about how the county should rebuild, especially with regard to its school gyms, which are now sheltering many of the country’s 170,000 displaced residents. In those gyms, Sugiyama wants to add floors with radiant heat, insulation that can be removed from walls to double as bedding, and rings on walls from which ropes can be tied to hang dividing curtains. Plus, when the rebuilding does start, “architects should provide leadership and creativity in master planning of old and new communities, propose extra safety measures in buildings of different types, and promote economical and eco-friendly solutions,” Sugiyama wrote. Still, he notes that it may be a few months before architects can get involved. “Unfortunately, what we do as architects does not seem to be so urgently needed in the confusing reality of affected areas,” he wrote. (When contacted by RECORD, Sugiyama referred all questions to the letter.) While architects may not be needed anytime soon, other hurdles may greet them down the line. Currently, it’s not permissible for foreign architects to perform even basic surveys in Japan without being licensed. Still, that has not stopped Seattle-based architect Rachel Minnery from wanting to take action. Minnery chairs the AIA’s disaster assistance task force, which was created after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated Louisiana in 2005. The group encourages architects to undergo Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) training to learn how to properly assess building damage. Ideally, any volunteers for Japan would come from the ranks of the 1,000 or so U.S. architects who have been trained through the FEMA program. So far, none has been deployed to Japan because no government agency or charity there has issued any specific calls for help from designers, says Minnery.