When posed with a brief for a Japanese-style mobile fashion store, Kooo Architects decided not to respond in a purely visual symbolic way. Rather, they looked at the climate for constructing architecture in Japan, and decided to raise social awareness of the destructive power of earthquakes. Using approximately 1000 disaster hoods to create an 8m diameter partial dome, their design embodies the color and texture of their client's fashion range while reminding the public of the prevalence of natural disasters.

Courtesy of Kooo Architects

When posed with a brief for a Japanese-style mobile fashion store, Kooo Architects decided not to respond in a purely visual symbolic way. Rather, they looked at the climate for constructing architecture in Japan, and decided to raise social awareness of the destructive power of earthquakes. Using approximately 1000 disaster hoods to create an 8m diameter partial dome, their design embodies the color and texture of their client's fashion range while reminding the public of the prevalence of natural disasters.
Courtesy of Kooo Architects

The hoods themselves, also known as bousai zukin, are commonplace in Japanese schools to protect children's heads from fire and debris in the case of earthquakes. The structure is easy to assemble, with convenient workability as critical design features. The hoods are self-supporting and no rigid structural material was used, but rather a soft and highly cushioned materia...