Day 05 -Flight to Fukuoka, Welcome Party
Alas, our time as tourists has come to an end. We must now fulfill our reason for coming to Japan, that is, to attend the workshop on Architectural and Engineering Solutions to Sustainable Buildings and Communities held at Kitakyushu University in Fukuoka.
Day 05 started very early. Our flight was scheduled at around 6 am, so we left APA Hotel at 3 o'clock in the morning. Riding a taxi to the Kansai International Airport costed 13,800 Yen. I was still very sleepy that time but really remembered the taxi fare. It was 13,800 Yen, roughly Php 6,900. Never had I paid that much for a taxi ride, or even for a provincial bus. Tsk. Tsk.
At the airport, while waiting for checking in, I just slept［(－－)］zzz The seats were cushioned and there were no arm rests so it was easy to fall asleep.
We finally checked in and are already at the domestic departure lounge, but I was still half asleep. When we first arrived in KIX it was nighttime so I haven't really got the chance to examine the building closely. But this time around, I was awake enough to see the roof's multistory type of X bracing, using steel tubes. The bracing starts at the roof and continues upto the walls. This configuration would withstand lateral forces on the roof such as wind loads, and lateral forces on the walls like earthquakes. I thought it was a good design, simple and effective.
And then it was boarding time. We were on our way to Fukuoka.
Our professors' flight was 10 am, so after arriving in Fukuoka Airport, us students still waited... and slept some more and had some bread for breakfast. XD
In the Philippines, sleeping at airports was common (maybe because of delayed flights, or people arrived soo early, etc). But we saw none of that at KIX and Fukuoka Airport. We sleeping, and also sitting on the floor at the train station, kept grabbing people's attention. XD
I walked a bit in the airport and saw plants beside escalators, and I think that lifted my mood up. I thought,"Waahh, after finally waking up, I saw something refreshing". I really do think plants and other landscaping elements at airports transform the surroundings into something brighter and happier
After reuniting with our profs, we were then fetched by Prof. Fukuda of Kitakyushu University. There was a bus waiting for us that would take us to our hotel, Comfort Hotel, at Kurosaki, Kitakyushu.
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Comfort Hotel was a simple vertical rectangular block, with white and gray as the color scheme. The windows of the rooms faced the sides, which are parking spaces. The entrance was not at all eye-catching. It was a rectangular hole on the wall.
Even the interior, from the reception to our room, is very clean and simple. Our room was a double bed room. The color scheme follows that of the entire building - black-white-gray. The bathroom was small but the arrangement of fixtures was very efficient. The lavatory overlaps with the bath tub. The water faucet at the lavatory can be rotated and used for the bath tub. And again, the toilet had buttons for flush, spray, bidet, water pressure, warm seat, etc. :D
The breakfast area was ok, but the food and coffee was best. ^^
^ images source: comfortinn.com
After leaving our things at the hotel, we had lunch at a nearby mall. The upper part of the mall was covered with a plant wall, which made the building less masculine. In the Philippines, such green walls are hard to maintain (moisture and humidity affects plant growth, pollen could spread, etc.). I've only seen green walls as part of the interior design, and very few buildings use it as cover for a large part of the exterior walls.
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After lunch, we changed to our dresses, 'cause a welcome party for us was to be held. But before all that fun stuff, we first toured around the Kitakyushu University, particularly the Faculty of Environmental Engineering where the workshop shall be.
Overall, the Faculty of Environmental Engineering building is composed of 2 long rectangular structures, connected by bridges, and with a high-ceilinged open area in front facing an open field. In the high-ceilinged open area are stairs, and elevators. Instead of closing off this part of the building, making it open allowed for natural lighting to emanate. Though this may cause the area to be especially wet during rainy seasons, there are still other entrances, and stairs and elevators within the building itself that are readily usable.
We passed through the high-ceilinged area before going inside the Environmental Engineering building. "Open space, steel structural parts, concrete walls, glass doors and windows, and wooden floor decks" sum up the whole feel of the area. But the relatively thin steel columns spaced at about 2 m apart, and the roof space frames are prominent. To really ensure the strength of the columns even against lateral forces, two of the many columns are spaced nearer each other and with cross bracing.
We also saw real-life steel connections, and the X bracing (that is usually hidden inside a wall). Here they are exposed.
And more exposed structural, electrical and plumbing systems are seen elsewhere in the campus. On the exterior walls of the building is a layer of exposed pipe lines, color coded, and are organized very well, which made it aesthetically pleasing. Even though the pipes are exposed they are still hidden from immediate sight. This style reminded me of Pompidou Center, but here it's much cleaner and organized.
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Going inside, because the building has a long span, multiple light wells were integrated, not just for natural lighting, but also for natural ventilation.
The walls inside were exposed RC. Only doors of offices and restrooms, and walls of office spaces are colored. Different colors equals different faculty department
Their computer room (the equivalent of our CADLab) is twice as big as ours. And by the looks of it, there's 1:1 ratio, one student = one computer. Their white computers are so sleek.
And here's the lecture room, where the workshop shall be held.
This room also doubles as a work/drafting space for the students. On the walls were the students' T-squares and Triangles.
Their drafting area is very different from ours. Look at ours:
Even though their working conditions were better (great computers, quiet and private atmosphere for working/drafting), I still prefer our college's. The main reason: sense of community. Here, in their classrooms, I feel... neutral. I feel that everything's designed to be like you're already working (professionally).
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Have you noticed that in my earlier photos of the lecture/drafting room and the computer room there were no air conditioning units? Well, that's because the university utilizes natural ventilation using solar chimneys and cool pit systems. This will be later explained in the workshop proper.
The following images are what fascinated me during our first time visit in the University of Kitakyushu Faculty of Environmental Engineering's building.
Awning Windows that are operated using a Rotating Lever
The lever is attached to strings that are attached to the windows. Basically, it's a pulley system.
Vertical Air Vents on Walls
Walls have air vents where air from solar chimneys and the cool pit enter the building
Color-coded Doors and Square Signages
Restroom doors: red - female, yellow - PWD, blue - male.
Signages: square; background - solid color, symbol - white and at upper left corner, text - white and at lower right corner
The colors really stand out because everything else is plain concrete or colored white or gray.
A faculty member gets the room keys from this contraption (whose picture is below). They type in a room number, and the key gets ejected from the contraption. When it's time to surrender the key, you insert it again in its place. The computer then examines if it was the right key for that room, if the room is properly locked, or if the lights are off. If one of these is not satisfied, the contraption does not accept the key and ejects it while saying (yes, it talks!) the reason why the key can't be accepted. Very smart! Security, check! Conservation of Electricity, check!
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Of course, what really caught my attention were the students' projects that were displayed on hallways and hanged on walls. Competitive mode on!
^Sketches by first years are hanged on the metal wall using magnetic clips. The fact that there are steel wall panels where artworks can easily be displayed using magnetic clips is a feat in itself. Ah, they planned everything. Back to the sketches. Our batch also produced good drawings like these. Hindi kami papatalo diyan. <(￣︶￣)>
^ This is not made by an undergrad 「(°ヘ°) I hope. If it is... I don't know what I've been doing as a student anymore! Really? Wood? And a curved roof too. T_T Much envy. For me, the overall design is typical but became chic because of that chimney thing at the roof. Hahahaha.
Next! Foam board scale models!
1st observation: "Wow! People here are really rich. Each model is made of foam board."
After a while: "Roof decks!"
The execution of the designs using foam board and other materials was splendid on almost all scale models. They're nice and clean. (Why are their scale models so clean? ლ(ಠ_ಠლ)) But not as detailed as I expected. No textures or colors on buildings? Well, maybe because they strictly follow the white in White model. In our college, scale models should be as detailed as possible, unless stated otherwise.
These were beautiful and all, in fact, the designs were very Japanese. The designs were modern, geometric, and minimalist, conforming with the forms of already existing structures in Japan.
What bothered me most though were the flat roofs. I'm not accustomed to scale models such as these. As a Filipino, flat roofs or roof decks = too hot, and no overhangs on windows = water inside the building. But I think I'm also wrong and overgeneralizing things. Designs do vary on a case by case basis.
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Professor Bart, the reason we are in Japan now, the one who invited us, gave us a tour of an office space. Here, it was unusually messy, that I got distracted and almost tripped over a horizontal bar.
This office was one open room. There are no cubicles separating the employees from each other. It's pretty much like the research room in our college.
But the displays though were beautiful~
Clean, simple, detailed, and see that hole cut on the roof to make way for the tree, ahh nice! But where are the railing on the roof deck?
^ this scale model was built for real. It must have taken a lot of concentration doing the scale model. The lattice effect is very surreal. I could imagine it with plants on the roof, with vines falling here and there.
^ And finally, this scale model. I found it intriguing because of the table and chairs. It's either they're big furniture or the area is just too small (especially that area at the lower part of the photo). Assuming the right scale was used for everything in this scale model, aren't the rooms too small? If they wanted to fit that much set of tables and chairs in that room, shouldn't the room be bigger? The way I see it now, the tables and chairs were all squeezed into one room. You can't even move because of how tightly spaced the chairs are.
And that's all for the what's inside the building. We exited the Envi. Eng'g building, and proceeded to the venue of the party!
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^ View of the exterior of the Envi. Engg building. I guess not all of the exterior's surface is exposed concrete.
^We passed by this building. We found out later that it was the cafeteria. What a high-ceilinged caf. The vertical sunshades were a great addition. They provided the accent color of the structure.
^ We also saw this building. It reminded me of the National Institute of Physics (NIP) at our university. But this one looked like a parking building. The cylindrical part is where the ramps are.
^ We also passed by this building. They really do like those vertical sun shades. And use of steel too. What do those columns support? the roof? Maybe there are solar panels up there, hence needing the strong columns.
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We finally arrived at the venue. The Kitakyushu University's professors and students, undergrad and grad, were already waiting. Aww, they decorated the place too, with flags. XD But where's the Philippine flag?? Oops. Never mind that. They did throw us this party.
I sat beside Professor Weijun Gao. He was really a happy fellow. He teased me about Jun Matsumoto once he found out I was a fan. He kept asking me to drink alcohol, or the drink with 5% alcohol, even when I kept saying I was still underage by Japanese standards. XD But because of him, it became a very fun party.
^ Here is a group photo of the participants of the workshop.
