Teshima Factory by Schemata Architects & Jo Nagasaka

Located directly in front of Ieura Port on Teshima Island, Teshima Factory is a carefully considered adaptive reuse project by Schemata Architects in collaboration with Jo Nagasaka. The project transforms a former ironworks into a hybrid facility combining a cafeteria and food production space, positioning architecture as a catalyst for cultural, environmental, and economic renewal.

Rather than erasing the site’s industrial past, the project embraces it—reframing the existing structure as a place where local agriculture, food culture, and community life can converge. In doing so, Teshima Factory becomes both a physical intervention and a symbolic first step in redefining the island’s future.

From “Garbage Island” to a Model of Regeneration

Teshima’s recent history is marked by the scars of illegal industrial waste dumping, an episode that once earned it the stigma of “Garbage Island.” Ironically, the island’s remoteness—previously a liability—has since become a strength. The same distance that allowed the environmental crisis to occur has also preserved strong ecological cycles and vernacular ways of living.

In recent years, projects such as the Teshima Art Museum have helped reframe the island’s identity, aligning culture, landscape, and architecture in a way that foregrounds healing and coexistence with nature. Alongside these cultural initiatives, traditional agricultural practices—especially pesticide-free terraced rice farming—have quietly sustained a delicate balance between land and sea. Water flowing from the hills into the ocean nourishes seaweed, which in turn supports fishing, creating a closed-loop system that predates contemporary sustainability discourse.

Yet this way of life is under threat. An aging population and declining agricultural activity risk the gradual disappearance of these practices. Teshima Factory responds directly to this condition.

Architecture as a Platform for Agricultural Revival

The project was initiated by Amuse, the operator, with a clear ambition: to revive agriculture on the island, promote local products as new specialities, and establish a model of agricultural tourism rooted in everyday life rather than spectacle. Teshima Factory is conceived as the first tangible step in this long-term vision.

Architecturally, the approach is restrained and pragmatic. The existing ironworks—measuring approximately 360 square meters—was divided into two nearly equal halves. One side retains its productive identity and is being transformed into a brewery and food factory. The other half, with a floor area of under 200 square meters, becomes a cafeteria open to both islanders and visitors.

This division respects the original symmetry of the building, which featured a central entrance. The design reinforces this axis, allowing the two new functions to appear as twin yet contrasting spaces that announce themselves clearly at the port.

Light, Material, and Subtle Contrast

Material choices play a key role in distinguishing the two halves while maintaining a coherent whole. On the factory side, the original slate roof is preserved, continuing to provide shade and reinforcing its industrial character. On the cafeteria side, the roof is replaced with corrugated polycarbonate panels, allowing soft natural light to filter into the interior.

This subtle contrast creates a dialogue between production and consumption, work and gathering, shadow and light. The building does not dramatize the difference; instead, it allows it to be felt gradually as one moves through the space.

Internally, the design language is intentionally modest. Furniture and fixtures draw directly from the color palette of the existing steel structure, reinforcing continuity between old and new. The architecture avoids decorative excess, allowing material honesty to define the atmosphere.

Circularity and Collective Making

One of the most compelling aspects of Teshima Factory lies in its approach to reuse and collective production. The spherical lighting fixtures suspended from the ceiling are made from recycled marine plastic waste collected from the surrounding ocean—a direct acknowledgment of the island’s environmental history and ongoing responsibility.

Similarly, the chairs in the cafeteria were jointly created by Dutch artist Sander Wassink and local islanders. This act of co-creation transforms everyday furniture into a social artifact, embedding stories of collaboration, labor, and place into the space itself.

Through these gestures, the project extends sustainability beyond energy performance or material efficiency. It frames sustainability as a cultural practice—one that includes people, skills, and shared authorship.

A New Social Heart at the Port

Today, the cafeteria functions as a new social node on Teshima. It is a place where islanders and tourists gather, not only to eat but to exchange stories, observe daily life, and reconnect with the rhythms of the island. Positioned at Ieura Port, the building acts as both a gateway and a pause—a moment of arrival that introduces visitors to Teshima’s values through food, space, and atmosphere.

Rather than imposing a new identity, Teshima Factory quietly amplifies what already exists. It demonstrates how small-scale architectural interventions, when grounded in local context and long-term vision, can support broader processes of regeneration.

Architecture One Step Behind—and Ahead

Teshima Factory embodies a philosophy described by the architects as being “cutting-edge because it is one or more laps behind.” By looking backward—toward cyclical agriculture, reuse, and communal making—the project offers a forward-looking model for rural revitalization.

In its modest scale and careful restraint, Teshima Factory shows how architecture can participate in healing landscapes and communities without spectacle. It is not a monument, but a working building—one that nourishes both body and place, and quietly repositions architecture as an everyday tool for sustainable futures.

Photography: Kenta Hasegawa (OFP)