An exhibition showcasing the outcomes of a fieldwork project conducted by students of the Global Collaborative Design Practice (GCDP) master’s double-degree program, jointly offered by Kyoto Institute of Technology (KIT) and University of the Arts London (UAL), will be held at the former guard station on the KIT campus.

The exhibition features five projects set in the small rural community of Nonbara in Kyotango, Kyoto Prefecture, each exploring the relationship between people and place.

Nonbara is a small settlement located in Kyotango, a northern region of Kyoto Prefecture famous for its once thriving silk production. Despite the picturesque landscape and the rich historical, cultural and industrial background, the approximately twenty houses on a small plateau between the Sea of Japan and Mount Ichigao are facing severe depopulation. What are the values they have preserved for us? What perspectives are there for their future development? What interaction is needed to sustain these? These are the questions to be investigated and implemented to help the recreation of the community, both by the remaining inhabitants and those who have recently moved into the once-empty houses.

Throughout the year, first-year GCDP students have been studying design research methods and collaborative tools. This 4-day field trip was intended to serve as a practical application of these skills through an intensive immersion in a real-life setting. After visits to representative industry and community hubs for getting a basic understanding of the regional context, students were expected to autonomously identify problem spaces, observe these according to their self-defined criteria, and produce documentation that can serve as a foundation for a future collaborative design research project. No specific method or methodology was provided in advance; instead, the emphasis was placed on the clarity and focus of the empirical and analytical on-site observation, and the interaction with the local residents.

The results of the explorations will be exhibited at the Gatehouse on KIT’s campus. It presents six distinct yet interconnected projects that reflect an ethnographic approach to the themes of rural depopulation, memory and revitalization. Through self-directed methods ranging from photographic collage and oral history to spatial mapping and narrative design, the students investigate what it means to document, interpret, and interact with a place in transition.

Installed within the evolving context of the Gatehouse Project, these works participate in an ongoing, site-specific dialogue. Once a guard post, the Gatehouse now serves as a platform for student interventions that blur the line between exhibition, research and repair. Instead of offering objective solutions, this exhibition responds to this year’s theme of “Slow Renovation” by inviting close looks at a place facing disappearance, and how creative practice may transform its story moving forward.