The Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Project. Image © Takuya Omura
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https://www.archdaily.com/1037641/built-environment-an-alternative-guide-to-japan-exhibition-in-montreal-examines-resilient-japanese-architecture
The exhibition Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan at the Université du Québec à Montréal’s (UQAM) Centre de design will be on view until January 25, 2026. Curated by Shunsuke Kurakata, Satoshi Hachima, and Kenjiro Hosaka, it features a selection of 80 projects from Japan’s 47 prefectures, including works by renowned Japanese architects such as 2014 Pritzker Prize laureate Shigeru Ban, Kengo Kuma, the designer of the Museum of Modern Art’s renovation in New York Yoshio Taniguchi, celebrated landscape architect and sculptor Isamu Noguchi, and 2019 Pritzker Prize laureate Arata Isozaki. The selection aims to offer a renewed perspective on Japan through innovative buildings, civil engineering projects, and landscape designs. Organized in collaboration with the Japan Foundation and presented with the support of the Consulate General of Japan in Montreal, the exhibition is conceived as a traveling project exploring the resilience of Japanese architecture and infrastructure in the face of natural disasters and climate change.
Mt. Buko. Image via v2com newswire
Japan is a geographically diverse country, an archipelago stretching from north to south, with most regions experiencing four distinct seasons, a territory frequently affected by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and typhoons. Across the country, buildings and infrastructure have demonstrated an ability to adapt to often extreme environmental conditions. By foregrounding the interaction between architecture, civil engineering, and landscape design, the exhibition proposes a new way of understanding Japanese territory. Its title, An Alternative Guide to Japan, reflects the curators’ intention to present a fresh perspective on the country’s architectural tradition, offering visitors a deeper understanding of Japan’s history, environment, and culture through its built environment.
Onagawa Station and Yupo’po Shigeru Ban. Image Courtesy of Onagawa Town
Art Plaza (Former Oita Prefectural Library) by Arata Isozaki. Image © Ryuji Miyamoto
The exhibition design emulates A Bird’s-Eye View of the Archipelago. The 80 projects are displayed on origami-inspired structures, folded, angular, and sometimes cubic plywood forms, arranged across the floor of the main exhibition hall. Their layout follows a map of the Japanese archipelago and its four main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Video projections further enhance the immersive experience. Expanding on the exhibition’s themes, a roundtable discussion titled The Resilience of the Built Environment will take place on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at 2 p.m., at UQAM’s Centre de design. Organized in collaboration with UQAM’s Pôle sur la ville résiliente, a research group bringing together around 40 scholars from multiple disciplines, the discussion will examine resilience in the built environment in both Quebec and Japan. Located in downtown Montreal, the Centre de design offers free admission from Wednesday to Sunday to its 400-square-meter exhibition space.
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This exhibition and the projects it showcases provide many inspiring examples that can help us in Quebec rethink our own built environment and its resilience to climate change and natural disasters. There is much to learn from Japanese architecture and construction, which for thousands of years have evolved to adapt to and withstand extreme environmental forces. ― Patrick Evans, Director of UQAM’s Centre de design.
UQAM’s Centre de design presents «Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan» Dates: November 20, 2025 – January 25, 2026
. Image © Benoit Rousseau
UQAM’s Centre de design presents «Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan» Dates: November 20, 2025 – January 25, 2026
. Image © Benoit Rousseau
Other recent news related to exhibitions and cultural events in architecture includes the reopening of The Egg Performing Arts Center at Albany, New York’s Empire State Plaza, following a six-month restoration; the High Museum of Art in Atlanta announcing a touring exhibition on Isamu Noguchi’s design work, titled Isamu Noguchi: “I Am Not a Designer,” running from April 10 to August 2, 2026; and the opening of SANAA’s Taichung Art Museum and Library Complex in Taiwan, featuring an inaugural exhibition titled A Call of All Beings: See You Tomorrow, Same Time, Same Place.