Fukui Station Area Dinosaur Expansion Project

In preparation for the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen Fukui-Tsuruga line in spring 2024, Fukui Prefecture and Fukui City have launched the "Fukui Station Dinosaur Expansion Project" to promote "Fukui, the Kingdom of Dinosaurs" to visitors by placing various dinosaur displays around Fukui Station and to create a lively atmosphere using dinosaurs. Fukui City is in charge of the east exit area of Fukui Station, and has installed a parent-child Triceratops monument with the theme of parent-child love in the East Exit Plaza. The parent Triceratops is a life-sized dinosaur robot that expresses parent-child love by moving at regular times and making sounds. Meanwhile, the shelter area of Fukui Station is designed to evoke the world of land. You can interact with three baby dinosaurs, including a Spinosaurus, and the egg monument is a photo spot where you can enter and take photos. The adjacent pedestrian-only road is designed to evoke the world of the sky. There are benches for child dinosaurs who dream of becoming dinosaur researchers, as well as a sign reading "Pterosaur Conservation Area," and on the exterior wall of Echizen Railway Fukui Station facing the road ahead, a 20-meter-long herd of Pteranodons is painted. Furthermore, under the elevated railway, an internally illuminated "Pterosaur Conservation Area" sign in ocean blue tones and a bench with a relief of the marine dinosaur Plesiosaurus are installed, evoking the image of an underwater world. In this way, each area has its own theme, and the different sights to see make it easy to wander around.

- We want to create a place that visitors will want to visit, and one that local residents will also feel attached to.
・We want to connect the east and west exits of Fukui Station, making it easier to get around and encouraging people to walk around the town.
- We want to create a space that incorporates the perspective of sustainable space development, such as by using dinosaurs to generate buzz and create an impact.

The above request was made.

・We connected the east and west sides of the city and developed the area to create an impression of "Fukui, the Kingdom of Dinosaurs," where numerous fossils have been discovered. The main dinosaurs are not limited to stereotypical expressions such as fighting and power, but are instead portrayed in a new way, with a theme of family love, which is in line with Fukui City's branding and will resonate with many people.
- The image of the dinosaurs blending into the area around the station and living their lives to the fullest overlaps with us, transcending time, making it a new landmark for the city of Fukui and creating a lively atmosphere.

Your company was also in charge of the construction of the dinosaur monument on the roof of the Fukui City Tourism Exchange Center at the east exit of Fukui Station, which is in the same area as this project, which allowed us to create a sense of unity in the area concept and concept design.