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Architects: Osamu Morishita Architect & Associates
- Area: 47 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Katsumasa Tanaka
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Lead Architects: Osamu Morishita
Text description provided by the architects. We would like to hand over this precious global environment to the next generation and carefully secure it. This is the prime idea of the client company. SDGs idea is permeating society now, and the owner company tries to contribute to the world to create a continuous and prosperous society according to their policy for sustainability " creating new value and worth to make children in the future happy" Hydrogen is one of the most hopeful energy media of the next era. It generates electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen, enabling automobiles to run without the emission of carbon dioxide. This facility is highly effective in directing carbon neutrality. Especially this hydrogen station is directly connected to the neighboring plant that produces hydrogen with pipelines.
So, the station which supplies it to automobiles does not emit carbon dioxide also during transportation between these two. This is the first facility in Japan where the production of hydrogen refined by salt electrolysis, supply, and filling are directly operated. Hydrogen is one of the important energy media in Japan and the world, and the use of hydrogen can drastically reduce the load on the environment. Now the shortage of electric power is serious because the demand for it is rising. The usage of hydrogen in addition to electricity, which depends on the balance between supply and demand, is a very important option among a variety of alternatives. Society will be more stable if it takes multiple and diverse systems. Unexpectedly, the world is now moving toward unstable, and with the crisis of centralized control that emphasizes efficiency becoming apparent, expressing respect for diversity is also seeking stability. We want to bring peace of mind to the next generation.
A translucent cloud-like canopy floats in the air as a metaphor for expressing hydrogen. The cube-shaped units are covered with ETFE film and make people perceive the feeling of a balloon lightly floating in the air. Units fly around a grouping pillar called a tree, gathering and looking like a cloud or like a large tree. It is not a composition for the purpose of creating a shape, but a composition that envisions a system that covers the space ennui while being conscious of harmony with the environment. The structure gives the observers a mysterious perception like a cloud lightly floating in the air.
Some volume of gas acts as a buffer to protect the environment. Just as a layer of insulation or a heat shield, it protects the space which it covers, much like a cloud controls the atmosphere beneath it. The substance called hydrogen will surely become a gas that gently protects the global environment in the future. We would like to propagate that image to the people. Of course, light structures work effectively from the perspective of lifecycle energy, which can be useful from the duration of construction until later, but more than that, they play a major role in enlightening the world about the idea of hydrogen energy.
We want to convey to people the idea that we must take care of the precious earth.
