Michael Kan

The superblock of Kyojima is considered a high risk neighbourhood by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which contains a majority of timber houses that are easily combustible during a post-earthquake fire. Despite the effort by the government to formulate a hardshell frontier along the periphery, the existing building height arrangement does not form a successful hardshell that can ensure residents’ safety during evacuation. The sheer scale and density of low-rise timber houses in Kyojima suggest that a more effective splitting of the “softyolk” is necessary for the neighbourhood, such proposal will create a new North-South escape corridor in Kyojima that naturally forms a new “inner hard shell”. This new redevelopment can organically protects both sides of the residents in the events of large scale diaster, but also enable long time economic growth for its aging residents.