Fragile Arcadia

Said to be the birthplace of Japan’s gods, Awaji Island lies between mythology and infrastructure. Since the opening of the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, it has become part of the Osaka metropolitan region, emerging as a new paradigm for the contemporary city—functioning, in its own dispersed way, as a large city. Coastal settlements assemble industries, fishing villages and leisure infrastructures into one field that absorbs shifting rhythms of work and mobility, where Godzilla, office parks, agriculture and Hello Kitty simply coexist.

Fragile Arcadia takes this condition as its field of inquiry. Arcadia—the enduring Western fiction of cultivated wilderness—finds a specific resonance here, unfolding with no nostalgia, sustained by technical systems and continuous transformation—an engineered pastoral that accepts its own constructedness.

Pasona, a company originally based in Tokyo, has relocated part of its headquarters functions into the rural fabric of Awaji. Its presence turns the island into an intentional experiment in organising work, life and landscape within a hybrid territory. Within this setting, Fragile Arcadia examines the island as a place where ideas of the natural and the city continually renegotiate one another.

Drawing on the notion of urban acupuncture, participants will develop small metropolitan devices that engage local communities and Pasona’s network, establishing collective spatial situations within this evolving territory. Working with the Awaji Roof Tile Industry, Awaji-gawara serves as both material and conceptual framework—an operational element that anchors each project in the territorial reality of the island.

Workshop Information

• Location: Awaji Island, Japan
• Venue: Bourou Seikaiha bourou-seikaiha.jp
  1833-4 Iwaya, Awaji, Hyogo 656-2401, Japan
• Dates: 
  Workshop: 16–20 February 2026
  Arrival: 15 February 2026
  Departure: 21 February 2026
• Number of Participants:
  10 students total
  5 students affiliated with TU Wien or other Austrian Architecture schools
  5 students from Japanese partner universities
• Eligibility
  Open to Master students in architecture.
  English proficiency required.
• Credits
  Participants from TU Wien receive 3 ECTS within the course International Student Seminar (JASEC).
  Other participants receive a certificate, confirming their participation.
• Costs:
  Participation is free of charge, Accommodation and meals are covered (Bourou Seikaiha), double rooms (2 students per room), Japanese shared public bath (ofuro). Participants cover their own travel costs
  (Arrival to Kobe).
• Curated by:
  Patrick Pregesbauer (TU Wien, Studio Pregesbauer)
  Kazuhiro Yajima (TU Wien, JASEC)
  in collaboration with Pasona Group Japan
• Application:
  Deadline for Submission: 19 December 2025
  Notification of selected participants: 22 December 2025
• Submission:
  Please submit your application as one single PDF file (max. 10 MB, File name: Lastname_Firstname) including Portfolio and CV
  Please Upload the application here: https://tucloud.tuwien.ac.at/index.php/s/JFgAXwzmCaGiASS
• For questions contact:pregesbauer@gestaltungslehre.tuwien.ac.at

Download Information Sheet [PDF, opens an external URL in a new window]