Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan

The Consulate-General of Japan in Calgary is holding an exhibition titled ‘Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan’ as part of The Japan Foundation's travelling exhibition, in collaboration with the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary and the RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University, with the support of the Calgary Japanese Community Association. The exhibition will be held from Friday, August 8, 2025, to Friday, August 29, 2025, at the City Building Design Lab of the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape, at the University of Calgary.

The exhibition features 80 examples of buildings, civil engineering works and landscapes, etc., from all the prefectures of Japan, which are introduced through photographs, text and video images. It presents a rarely considered aspect of Japan, taking the built environment of the various of regions of a country that is geographically diverse and often struck by natural disasters, with the aim of examining how Japanese people have engaged and struggled with the natural environment and how they have carried on and created locality.

Additionally, a special exhibition will feature works related to Japan, including student works from the University of Calgary and Athabasca University, the Calgary Japanese Community Association’s Legacy Project (new building design) and a photography competition exhibition hosted by the Consulate-General of Japan in Calgary.

Dates：August 8 to 29, 2025 (Closed on Saturday, Sunday & August 12*)
Opening Hours：8:30 am - 5:00 pm
Location：616 Macleod Trail SE, Calgary, AB
University of Calgary, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, City Building Design Lab
Admission：Free

*The venue will also be closed on August 12 from 2 pm for a private event.

【What is “Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan”?】

This traveling exhibition, titled Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan, uses photographs, texts, and videos to introduce a total of 80 buildings, civil-engineering projects, and landscapes. In temporal scope, the exhibition extends from the modern era of the late 19th century to the present, and geographically, it includes at least one offering from each of Japan’s 47 prefectures.

Japan is an archipelago that stretches from north to south. Many regions have a full complement of seasonal changes, and the country is also distinguished by its highly diverse geography. Moreover, Japan frequently falls victim to natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunami, and typhoons. Needless to say, the country’s buildings, civil-engineering projects, and landscapes strongly reflect these conditions.

In other words, elegant design and sophisticated technology are not the only things that make Japanese structures interesting. This exhibition sets out to evaluate them as the product of a dialogue between historical background and spatial context, and to focus on intriguing buildings, civil-engineering projects, and landscapes from the perspective of built environments. What kind of dialogues have occurred between the time Japan entered the modern era and today after a period of high economic growth and the bubble economy? An architectural historian, a landscape-design scholar, and an art curator considered this question from many angles, and created this exhibition to provide viewers with a deeper understanding of Japanese history, environment, and culture. We hope that the exhibition will function as an alternative guide, touching on aspects of the country that have not been widely introduced in the past.