In this construction, the planners sought an unassertive appearance, with all traces of careful arrangement erased, woven seamlessly into the surrounding scenery. Here, natural rocks are assembled into a breakwater along the beach. It embodies several ideas from local wisdom about keeping the shoreline orderly. An existing, gently sloping breakwater was adopted as part of this structure to enhance its protectiveness and effectiveness for the environment. When residents started recovering the link between the revitalization of shoreline beach and dune ecosystems and the revitalization of their community itself, the shoreline took shape as an interface between land and sea. And as they keep gazing out at the constant changes here and are impelled to take action, their cosmic consciousness awakens - an appreciation of the forests, rivers, land, and sea that belong to everyone and have always been here, sustained by this area.

Along the Kinoppu Coast, what we envisioned was scenery that changes in response to conditions of the ocean. All that would be left if people disregarded the creatures and structures at the heart of the cyclic phases of life are public properties bound up in rigid systems. But in this construction that accepts change, if the rocks are pushed by stormy weather, they have simply found new resting places; this is an aspect of nature. It is an experiment that encompasses the coastal ecosystem. Furthermore, it is a first attempt to recreate the scenery that should be here, all the way down to the sea floor, as residents of this fishing village look after and use it.

This was a project to repair an existing breakwater along the coast in Aomori Prefecture. A gently sloping breakwater was dismantled and concrete masses were arranged along the coast, encouraging dune formation and simulating the natural rocky seashore. In the development process, the blocks of concrete were repositioned (using heavy equipment) after initial installation for a more natural appearance, after which they settled into stable positions from the natural motion of waves. A local nonprofit organization enthusiastically executed the plan and handles shoreline maintenance work. The scenery that emerged has become completely indistinguishable from the natural environment. In general, something dismantled and reconstructed in a public works project after initial completion not for functional reasons but out of consideration for the scenery would be inconceivable. Yet in this project, a committed local nonprofit organization did just this, acting on uncommon sense to dismantle an existing breakwater, install a new one, and then reinstall it. For this reason, we recommend the project as a candidate for the gold prize, or otherwise, we recommend establishing a new award for nonprofit organizations, for which G-Mark submissions are more difficult. We also wish to note that this project was awarded the Civil Engineering Design Grand Prize by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers. [Kazuo Tanaka, B03 unit leader]