Architectural Firm Nikken Sekkei Uses Mass Timber to Expand Educational Facility

Nikken Sekkei, a Toyko-based architectural, planning, and engineering firm, is working on the expansion and construction of Ichikawa City’s Showa Gaukuin Elementary School’s West Wing, according to reporting by “designboom” (4-24-23).

The project is aided by Nikken Wood Lab, a department of Nikken Sekkei, which specializes in the research and development of wooden architecture, while pursuing sustainability and exploring new possibilities for CLT as a mass timber with domestic wood. The Gukuin project will utilize two-way CLT flat slabs for the construction of the contemporary educational facility—the first of its kind in Japan.

The Showa Gaukuin West Wing expansion will be located on a site that features two kilometers of cherry trees along the Mamagawa River, “designbloom” says. The West Wing expansion will use the two-way flat slab CLT method which requires no beams following urban planning regulations restricting building height and changes to the townscape. The construction process allows for minimal floor-to-floor height and total building height while maintaining the same ceiling height as in the existing school. The use of CLT reduces the weight of the structure and minimizes its load on the foundation.