Works
Works
From Yakushima Island, we practice regenerative architecture and landscape design informed by a 1,500-year timescale — from award-winning projects recognized in Japan and abroad, to the works we have built on the island and beyond.
Award-Winning Works
Regenerative Vegan House
Yakushima, Japan
A fully off-grid home built primarily from plant-based natural materials, shaped around the site’s existing terrain, spring water, and vegetation. Free of fossil-derived and chemical materials — a “vegan house” — it shows a form of regenerative architecture where the act of living helps the land renew itself.
Awards
5 awards in Japan and abroad (★ = top prize)
Sumu Yakushima
Yakushima, Japan
Its name layers the Japanese words for “to live” and “to become clear” — a home where human dwelling makes the landscape clearer, not poorer. A fully off-grid residence powered almost entirely by micro-hydro from the island’s abundant rainfall, it reimagines the relationship between human habitation and nature.
Awards
13 awards in Japan and abroad (★ = top prize)
Selected Works
Temple Grounds Regeneration
Japan
Regenerative works across the grounds of a historic Buddhist temple — restoring the underground flow of air and water and renewing the gardens, so the trees sheltering this place of worship keep breathing for generations.
Yoga Retreat Center
Yakushima, Japan
Regenerative civil and landscape works — reading the terrain and water flow to settle the architecture gently into its surroundings.
Banyan Cafe & Dormitory
Yakushima, Japan
Regenerative civil and landscape works for a complex with a cafe and dormitory — grounding the stay in harmony with Yakushima’s nature.
Banyan Retreat: The Nest
Yakushima, Japan
A Zen retreat at the foot of Mt. Mocchom. EKAM contributed the surrounding-environment works and foundation repair that ground this hideaway in the Yakushima forest.
Ishibadate Chicken Coop
Yakushima ｜ Design & Build
A chicken coop built with ishibadate — the traditional Japanese method of resting timber posts on foundation stones — designed and built entirely by EKAM. No concrete footing, so the ground keeps breathing beneath; a timber box that lets wind and light pass through the forest. Even the smallest structure follows the same regenerative thinking.
Overseas
The regenerative techniques and thinking developed in Yakushima travel well beyond Japan. A short film from our work in Bali, Indonesia.
Green the Globe.