Exhibitor’s Stories

Giving driftwood and old fishing nets a second life

Ryuboku Hut is an experimental rest structure built with driftwood, which is usually not considered a proper building material. On Okishima Island on Lake Biwa in Central Honshu, Japan, Shiga Prefecture University’s faculty and volunteer student team, led by the Ashizawa Ryuichi and Toki Hirokazu designed a round, self-supporting hut built with pieces of driftwood and old fishing nets that the team collected, giving these items a second life. Besides serving as a rest area for local fishermen, the hut can also be used as a children’s playground or even as an art gallery.