The area around Yokogawa Station, the second station west of Hiroshima Station on the Sanyo Main Line, is home to many students at Hiroshima City University because of its easy access to the university. The area used to be one of Hiroshima’s leading manufacturing towns and is very proactive in its understanding of art and design.

As a result of the many supportive activities for young artists in the past, we have decided to design the interior of the residence (AIR Hiroshima) for artists to stay for a short period of time to create and present their works and to work on the graphic work for the north-south free passageway of Yokogawa Station in FY2020. In designing the interior, we focused on materials from local companies. We used recycled scaffolding boards from WOOD PRO (a manufacturer of wood products in Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture) for the interior of the residence and foil sheets from Rekiseisha (a foil stamping manufacturer in Yokogawa) for the north-south free passageway.

In addition, the students participating in the graphic work for the north-south free passageway participated in a meeting of the Yokogawa Area Management Liaison Council, which was the client. They researched the problems facing the north-south free passageway. Then, through a visit to Rekiseisha, the students clarified the mission required for the design in terms of both the environment and the potential of materials and worked on the graphic work, creating the necessary drawing data for the request to the contractor based on the design proposal. Due to the various issues, such as budget and environmental specifications, not everything proceeded as expected. However, it was a great accomplishment for the students to be able to gain practical experience in cooperation with the local community, which is difficult to learn in a university training program.

It was a lot of work in a short period of time, which was stressful for the students, but the sense of accomplishment they experienced upon completion was invaluable as a real thrill for those involved in creative work in the future.

Graphic work for the north-south free passageway of Yokogawa Station, “The Path of Golden Clouds”
A bustling town atmosphere, a calm residential area, a town of manufacturing, a city of drunks…
The Yokogawa River, which shows a variety of forms, is compared to a dazzling cloud.
The shape of the clouds expresses the changes of the four seasons, and the north and south are represented by a time axis of one year.
After passing through the free passage connecting the north and south sides of Yokogawa Station, the city’s atmosphere changes completely.
It’s as if you are wrapped in smoke.
(Design: Keiichiro Kameyama / Natsuki Tomita [Hiroshima City University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Design and Applied Arts])

デザイン検討中の様子