Vernacular Craft to Digital Fabrication – AA Visiting School -26
Office Ten Architecture will be running an AA Visiting School in Japan this summer. The programme will run from 27 July – 7 August 2026. Together with Design + Make at Hook Park and VUILD, the students we will design and build a new structure using timber salvaged from buildings damaged from the 2024 Noto earthquake.
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Across Japan, traditional timber craftsmanship is rapidly becoming an endangered practice. Preserving this knowledge is urgent; yet doing so requires not only documentation but also reinterpretation. While digitally fabricated components are sometimes criticised for lacking the warmth and individuality of handcraft, this programme will challenge and test this assumption by incorporating found materials and site-specific elements into digital production.
We take inspiration from the concept of 一期一会 (ichigo-ichie) – the appreciation of unique, unrepeatable moments – in order to ask: Can traditional, standardised timber techniques be translated into digital fabrication in a way that accommodates unpredictability, locality and personal memory?
This investigation has broader relevance beyond Japan. As many European nations shift from masonry toward timber construction, demand for skilled labour is outstripping supply. Partial digitalisation of building processes is becoming unavoidable. The next generation of designers must therefore navigate between tradition and technological innovation. The workshop positions itself at this critical intersection, offering a transferable methodology for translating Japanese timber traditions into contemporary digital fabrication.
The workshop will be organised into three sequential components:
1 – Documentation and Analysis of Timber Construction (led by Office Ten Architecture)
2 – Digital Translation and Design Development (led by Hooke Park and fabricated in VUILD workshop in Ebina, Japan)
3 – Fabrication and Installation in Noto (VUILD will identify the site for the structure to be erected and students will join the construction process)
Partners:
VUILD: Led by Koki Akiyoshi, VUILD pioneers next-generation architecture through integrated digital fabrication. Operating its own factory, the studio bridges design, engineering and production.
Hooke Park: The Design + Make programme explores architecture at 1:1 scale, combining craft knowledge, natural materials, and advanced technologies including robotic fabrication and generative modelling.