Showa Gakuin Elementary School West Wing

Showa Gakuin Elementary School West Wing is an expansion of an existing school to accommodate an increasing number of students. In Japan, the trees planted on a large scale during the postwar and high-growth periods are now mature enough to be used as building materials, and it has become a crucial social issue to protect forest resources through a proper harvesting and planting cycle. Nikken Wood Lab, a department of Nikken Sekkei specializing in the research and development of wooden architecture and wood structures, pursued sustainability and explored new possibilities for CLT as mass timber*1 with the use of domestic wood in this project. The project site is located in the heart of a picturesque town surrounded by water and greenery, featuring a two-kilometer stretch of cherry trees along the Mamagawa River. Due to urban planning regulations restricting building height and changes to the townscape, the two-way CLT flat slab method, requiring no beams, was employed. This allowed for minimal floor-to-floor height and total building height, while maintaining the same ceiling height as the existing school. Furthermore, the use of CLT shortened the construction period by reducing the weight of the structure and minimizing its load on the foundation.