Inspired by the Japanese town of Kamikatsu’s Zero Waste mission, a private-sector business decided to build a pub there. The Rise & Win Brewing Co. opened in 2015, featuring both a microbrewery and barbecue stations serving a public house in the front.
For the design, Rise & Win hired architect Hiroshi Nakamura, who would later design Kamikatsu’s Zero Waste Facility. That facility, erected in 2020, features hundreds of mismatched windows harvested from abandoned structures. Here you can see that Nakamura first pulled this off with the brewery, most notably with its impressive façade:
“To make the pub a local symbol when looking up from the town, the windows comprising fittings from abandoned houses were set eight meters high. We gathered windows that illuminated the town in the past and dedicated our wish that they would serve as a lantern of hope to shine upon the town struggling with a declining population. The elevated ceiling effectively ventilates the warm air that stagnates above during summer, while the double layer of window fittings trap air and enhance insulation. The ceiling fan circulates heat from the carbon-neutral radiation heater that makes effective use of branches from the forest.”
“Not only does the architecture conserve energy and resources, and reduce harmful emissions though reuse, reduce, and recycle, it is starting to enhance a circulation of the regional economy as well as tourism. Moreover, by embodying the town’s vision within everyday life, the locals who gather at this pub are beginning to truly realize that their actions are fun and creative.”
