This is a project to revitalize vacant gardens in Setagaya. As of 2020, Setagaya Ward has the highest number of vacant houses in the country. Along with these vacant houses, gardens are also left abandoned. This project began when an acquaintance introduced the vacant house to someone who wanted to discuss how to utilize it. First, they considered using the building, but because it was old and did not meet earthquake resistance standards, large-scale renovations would have been difficult, so they decided to renovate the gardens first.

Since there were relatively few parks in the area, we opened the garden to the public and encouraged local use by demolishing the existing retaining wall to allow easy access from outside. For nighttime security reasons, we made a house-shaped pergola to gently separate the inside and outside of the garden, and let vines and Akebia japonica grow there, in the hope that it will also serve as a resting place for passersby. In addition, the road in front of the planned site was a narrow roadway, barely 4m wide , so we provided a safe sidewalk space for pedestrians.

In order to reduce the burden on the environment as much as possible, the concrete waste from construction was not thrown away, but was used to raise the garden level, preventing the generation of large amounts of waste. The blocks along the road were also made from unused waste materials. The stones and concrete used for the stepping stones were also reused, having been dug up from the ground during construction.

There are many vacant gardens in Setagaya that are left abandoned along with vacant houses, which is a waste of such precious green space, so we hope that they will be opened to the public as facilities that can be used by the local community, even if only temporarily.