First Full Rebuilding of Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts & Crafts Furnishings in Half Century

Shimizu Corporation (President: Kazuyuki Inoue) has commenced a project to fully rebuild Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts & Crafts Furnishings (Kiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo). Shimizu will turn the property into a showcase of wood culture, technique, and allures, which the company has carried on ever since its founding, by gradually demolishing the existing 11 buildings and reconstructing the facilities into a two-building site comprising a woodworking factory and visitors center.

Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts & Crafts Furnishings opened in 1884 as a Shimizu Gumi (now Shimizu Corporation) lumber processing plant. After the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the plant contributed to the reconstruction of Tokyo as a lumber collection point. In 1945, the plant burned down in the destruction of World War II, but it was soon restored and its plant facilities were upgraded and expanded as Japan's postwar recovery progressed. At the time, the site was called the Fukagawa Works and later renamed Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts & Crafts Furnishings. Under either name, since its opening, it has always helped skilled woodworkers improve upon their crafts and pass on the exquisite woodworking techniques they have employed.

All of the facilities at Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts & Crafts Furnishings were built at least 50 years ago. Over that time, the aging property has been maintained through seismic retrofitting and partial upgrades. However, demand for wooden construction has boomed since the Act on Promoting the Distribution and Use of Legally Harvested Wood and Wood Products came into force in 2010. To upgrade the property's functions as a woodworking factory and to streamline operations by concentrating workspaces, Shimizu decided last April to rebuild Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts & Crafts Furnishings.

The concept for the new facility is a showcase of wood culture, technique, and allures. It was inspired by the important role Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts & Crafts Furnishings has played in passing down woodworking techniques and the culture of wood. The three-story woodworking factory with 3,555 m² of floor space will contain two zones. The technological development zone on the first floor will cover modern wooden construction technology with the latest machine tools, such as multiaxial robots and NC router. The traditional technique zone on the second and third floors will be a setting to practice and carry on traditional woodworking techniques and its culture. Both zones will have a tour area affording the public an up-close look at traditional technique and cutting-edge woodworking technology.

The visitors center, in a two-story building with 1,291 m² of floor space, will have a museum in the middle of the first floor. It will contain life-size exhibits displaying the interiors of famous structures that were produced by Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts & Crafts Furnishings. Other exhibits will feature traditional tools and blueprints. The first floor's north side will have a woodworking classroom where visitors and local community members can learn carpentry. Offices and meeting rooms will occupy the second floor.

Suitably for a woodworking factory, both the woodworking factory and visitors center will have a hybrid structure of wood and steel. A rich, green ‘forest’ on the property will welcome visitors and facilitate Mokuiku(Growing with trees).

During the reconstruction process, the existing facilities will be gradually demolished as the visitors center, woodworking factory, and outdoor facilities are built, in that order. Demolition and construction will occur over three time periods: March 2022 to July 2023, August 2023 to December 2024, and December 2024 to September 2025. The grand opening for all facilities is scheduled for October 2025.

The full rebuilding of Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts & Crafts Furnishings will produce a core element of the value chain catering to the anticipated increase in demand for wooden construction. The property will accommodate up to 3,000 visitors a year, twice as many as before. It will also live up to its name by showcasing wood culture, technique, and allures.