Design Team: Satoshi Nakagawa/Concept and Design, Momoko Tomitsuka/Architectural planning, Nobuyuki Sugii/MPC Micro Electronic technology, Masafumi Kawaseki/MPC Data and Research, Anna Sugiyama/3D Design Drawing, Eiji Suzuki/Construction advice(Kensou), Keiko Shoji/KUAN Project management, tripod design Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Client: tripod design Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
KU-AN is a research facility that incorporates “MICROPOWER COLLECTION” (MPC), a proprietary energy harvesting technology, to power 800 12-volt LED lights installed in the room through the electricity obtained from a wide range of natural media like food compost and soil.
Designed based on the image of “a floating space, full of light,” KU-AN is a wooden building with a structure incorporating cypress in a grid pattern. The outer wall is entirely covered in glass, and mirrors are installed where that wall contacts the floor so that this light-emitting space appears to be floating in the air. KU-AN is able to continuously collect 2 watts of DC electricity from its 1,500 wooden collector cells.
When lit, the LED lights reflect in the glass, so that the view from inside the room appears like the infinite expanse of a starry sky.
Through Micropower Collection, power is available in a disaster or in an off-the-grid environment regardless of the weather or the time of day. In this way, it KU-AN can serve as a local shelter or function as a charging station for mobile phones in the event of a disaster.
