The world’s largest mass timber building was built in Osaka, Japan for the 2025 World Expo. Designed by Sou Fujimoto Architects, it references traditional Japanese building techniques, such as the Nuki joint, which allows for its intentional demolition and material reuse.

My research in Japan began with a simple question: what does it actually take to build for reuse?

The Red Dot School combines education, practice, and community stewardship.

Imagine tearing down your most sacred building every 20 years—on purpose.

In Japan, academic and corporate partnerships are testing reuse as a viable business proposal. Notes from the Gondo lab

Rather than rebuild after an environmental disaster, this historic down designed their homes to be disassembled and rebuilt for indefinite relocation.

Architects, artists, community members, and cities are taking action to address a growing national issue in Japan.

Reuse depends on social systems as much as technical systems.

Whether a building lasted centuries or moved with a flood, success depended on understanding change rather than resisting it.

Expo structures are testing large-scale material recovery.

Architect Yuta Nihei and his collaborators are exploring a future where deconstruction becomes a primary mode of construction.

In Kobe, a growing coalition of artists, community groups, and municipal leaders is experimenting with material reuse at the urban scale.

Architecture and craft were historically inseparable.