G R E G S T A N D E V E N

MEIJI UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL SUMMER WORKSHOP: ‘nakanoREINVENTED’DESIGNED IN COLLABORATION WITH TAKASHI SAKURAI, SOICHIRO HARADA, HIKARI YAMADA + NATALY ROJAS, SUMMER 2014

‘EAST+WEST’ CONNECTION GARDEN’

COMMUNITY CENTER SITE DESIGN

AS A GRADUATE REPRESENTATIVE FOR TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, THE MEIJI UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL SUMMER WORKSHOP WAS A WEEK-LONG DESIGN INTENSIVE COLLABORA-TION BETWEEN MEIJI UNIVERSITY AND FIFTEEN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES. AS A TEAM OF FIVE, ‘nakanoREINVENTED’ WAS A DESIGN PROPOSAL AIMED AT BLENDING THE COMMUNITIES OF NAKANO CENTRAL PARK AND NAKANO BROADWAY. THE WARD OF NAKANO IS PRIMARILY RESIDENTIAL, WITH A LARGE-SCALE TRANSIT CENTER AT THE HEART OF THE AREA. THE DESIGN WAS IN RESPONSE TO THE HARSE CULTURAL AND PHYSICAL DIVIDE ALONG NAKANO DORI. ASKED TO COME UP WITH A SOLUTION TO PRESENT TO NAKANO WARD OFFICIALS, THE ‘nakanoREINVENTED’ DESIGN WAS LOOKING AT CREATING A CULTURAL EPICENTER ALONG THE STATION LINE, WITH STRONG FOCUS ON RETAIL AND THE CREATION OF CENTRAL MUSIC HALL EMBEDDED IN THE COMMUNITY CENTER. SUPPORTED BY CIRCULATION, OPEN GREEN-SPACE, AND CLEAR SIGHT LINES, THE DESIGN PROMOTES INTRIGUE.