Kyoto University of Foreign Studies Bldg.4

The university is located in the intersection of Shijo-dori Street and Kadono Oji-dori Street.It takes 10 minutes by car from JR Kyoto Station in the northwest direction.12 buildings,school house,lecture-hall and auditorium, are standing in the campus site and all buildings do not meet the earthquake resistance standards designed after 1981 in Japan.“Building 4”,which is on the center of the campus,is the oldest and aging especially.The proposal competition for the reconstruction project was held .

We suggested the masterplan not only for “Building 4” but for other buildings which aimed to update the whole campus area in the future. After the proposal competition,we did the research to understand how students and teachers use the school. With the process, the Learning commons is placed on the first　and the mezzanine floor, the Career center and the Administration office are established on the second floor, and on the third to the fifth floor, class rooms and Flexible Learning Area (FLA) are　set up. The various scales of the classrooms / FLA will support teachers and students to have their spontaneous activities.

The building is shaped in the form of a slender plate in north and south. Before the reconstruction, the two gardens,“narrative garden” and “silent garden”,located in east and west were isolated.However, with the new plan, these two gardens are connected through the Learning commons on the first floor and the mezzanine floor.Therefore, the space can be gathering spot and can be spread freely.