[Community Collaboration] A workshop was held in connection with the Nishinomiya Central Sports Park redevelopment project.

Nishinomiya Central Sports Park is a precious green space in the southern part of the city, and together with the Central Gymnasium and Athletic Stadium, it serves as the base for sports and recreational activities in Nishinomiya City.
In recent years, the Central Gymnasium and athletics stadium have become increasingly dilapidated, and the need to quickly update these facilities has become an issue, so the decision was made to redevelop them.

As a result, our university, which is a university in Nishinomiya City that offers an architecture course, approached us about holding a workshop for the construction of the park. On Saturday, June 1st, an idea workshop was held, sponsored by Azusa Sekkei Inc., with representatives from Gendai Landscape Inc. and the Culture and Sports Department of the Nishinomiya City Industrial and Cultural Affairs Bureau in attendance.

The architecture course students who participated in the workshop visited the site on Saturday, April 27th, together with Nishinomiya city, the design team, and the accompanying teachers. Students from the tourism and regional management course attended a pre-briefing session in order to propose ideas from the user's perspective, and presented proposals that they had put together individually or in seminars. They then split into groups to exchange opinions based on the content of the proposals.

Students from the tourism and regional management course will create a farm in the plaza in front of the new athletics stadium and the new central athletics center, develop a menu in collaboration with a cafe that will sell the produce from the farm, and set up an agricultural experience corner in which local residents can participate. Students from the architecture course also proposed signs using Nishinomiya city characters and a flow line from the arena on the first floor to the spectator seats on the second floor. Students studying the lighting environment also voiced their opinions on changing the brightness over time, using incandescent lights to create a calm atmosphere on the premises, lighting up trees according to the season (cherry blossoms, autumn leaves), and being considerate of nearby residents.

The students' suggestions and opinions will be taken home and Azusa Sekkei Co., Ltd. will provide feedback in the future.

(Source: Regional and Social Cooperation Office)