One country that has always fascinated me is Japan, between the history of the nation, food and culture there has always been something so interesting about the Land of the Rising Sun. Japan has always taken pride in the fact that it is on the cutting edge of technology between the bullet trains, interesting vending machines and buildings that intertwine the nations centuries old history with modern architecture that is helping to preserve the planet.
ACROS centre in Fukuoka is one of the earliest precedents of green architecture globally with its very notable green roof that covers the building. The municipal government office building is roughy 93,000 square meters consisting of 14 floors and 4 underground levels that is also inclusive of a central atrium where natural light is able to enter. The complex opened in 1995 and is one of the earliest precedents of green architecture with Emilio Ambasz leading the design project becoming a pioneer of the green architecture movement.
With the slant of the green roof appearing similar to a natural mountain the nickname Mt. ACROS was dubbed. One of the most interesting parts of this green roof is the vegetation and tree species that are planted on this building. Greenery covers an area of nearly 5,400 square meters from the 2nd to 14th floods with around 200 different species of shrub and trees. Of the nearly 23 species of trees induce plum, maple, and Japanese apricot and developers are hoping to increase the number of tree species to between 350 and 400.
One of the most important factors when it comes to green roofs in urban areas is to help mitigate the urban heat island effect. Adaption Platform has noted that Mt. ACROS has utilized an “infrared thermometer measurements made during the daytime in mid-summer showed that temperatures on concrete surfaces reached over 50 degrees celsius, while the maximum temperate of the green vegetation surface was about 15 degrees celsius lower at 38 degrees celsius”. This is a massive improvement in decreasing the overall urban heat island effect and sets a precedence as to what other buildings can do across the world.
The owners and developers of the building have lofty goals for the building going forward as green buildings and their standards improve globally. One of the biggest factors is growing the number of visitors to the building as there where restrictions for a number of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this they are looking to increase the contributions they are making to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) especially Goals 11,13 and 15. SDG Goal 11: “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe resilient and sustainable”; Goal 13: “Take urgent actions to combat climate change and its impacts” and Goal 15: “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably mange forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss”. ACROS is helping in regards to these goals while leading the charge for what other buildings can do not only immediately but in the long term as well.
Interested in learning more?
Stir World Article: https://www.stirworld.com/think-columns-acros-fukuoka-prefectural-international-hall-by-emilio-ambasz-turns-25
A-Plat Article: https://adaptation-platform.nies.go.jp/en/articles/case_study/vol41.html