Tokyo, Japan
KU-AN is a research facility by Satoshi Nakagawa and Anna Sugiyama of tripod design that incorporates “Micropower Collection” (MPC), a proprietary energy harvesting technology that powers 800 12-volt LED lights installed in the room through electricity obtained from a wide range of natural materials such as food compost and soil.
For its innovative and inspired design, KU-AN has recently been awarded a 2022 Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
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, KU-AN can serve as a local shelter or function as a charging station for mobile phones in the event of a disaster.
Project: KU-AN
Designers: KU-AN Design Team of tripod design Co., Ltd.
Lead Designers: Satoshi Nakagawa and Anna Sugiyama
Client: tripod design Co., Ltd.
