Cats and Compost Center

This project in Shimokitazawa addresses nonhuman and human ecologies within an urban center by repositioning people, plants, and pets within a hybrid geography: an environment of care. The crux of the project is a composting infrastructural greenhouse that serves as laboratory grounds for the Shimokita Gardening Club, an educational botanical center, and a site for microbial fuel cell farming. Complementary components include a pet-sitting facility transformed from the existing silo structure located on site.

Urbanistically, the design bridges an isolated cove by extending the porch of Setagaya Church onto the roof of the Suzunari Theatre. Within the resulting interstitial space, the project features courtyards and alley spaces that invite humans to navigate the cove as co-inhabitants alongside pets and plants. Together, these interventions form a living scaffold for interspecies kinship, where stewardship, leisure, and infrastructure are intertwined to cultivate a more attentive urban ecology.

Typology: Greenhouse
Program: Botanical garden, pet sitter, class¬rooms, leisure community space, farming
Scale: 875 square meters (site area)
Material: Steel, wood, glass