Kobe Port Earthquake Memorial Park Renewal

Thirty years have passed since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and as the number of people who did not experience the earthquake increases, we have renovated the Kobe Port Earthquake Memorial Park, which was built in 1997, immediately after the earthquake.
By contrasting the remains preserved as they were at the time of the earthquake with the rebuilt city of Kobe, displays symbolically conveys the horror of the earthquake and the strength of the people of Kobe who rebuilt the city.
In renovating displays, we restructured the displays to be easily understood by younger generations who have not experienced the earthquake, and also translated displays graphics and videos into multiple languages for the increasing number of foreign tourists in recent years.
In addition, we have created AR content as a new displays element that allows visitors to compare the condition of the ruins before, during, and after the earthquake.
We have renovated this place with the aim of attracting many people from both Japan and abroad, regardless of age, and ensuring that it continues to serve as a place to pass on the memories and lessons of the earthquake to future generations.

Thirty years have passed since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and as the number of generations who did not experience the earthquake increases, we want to pass on the lessons of the earthquake and the importance of ports to future generations.
- We want to improve the visibility of the entrances and exits to displays facility.
- The explanatory panels and videos have become difficult displays understand due to the passage of 30 years.
- Multilingual support is needed to accommodate the diverse range of visitors.

The above issues arose.

A sign wall was concept design that symbolically represents the date of the disaster, "1995.1.17," serving as a hook to draw people to the earthquake memorial. At night, the lighting is designed in colors reminiscent of the sunrise at "5:46" when the disaster struck, providing an opportunity to reflect on the earthquake.
displays content itself has been restructured to be easily understood by elementary and junior high school students, and the graphic concept design has been revamped for better visibility. A multilingual website has also been created, supporting five languages.
We have created new AR content to help people more realistically experience the extent of the earthquake damage.

Since the renovation, and as it has been 30 years since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, many people, including local residents and foreign tourists, have come to the Kobe Port Earthquake Memorial Park to learn about what happened at the time. I feel that the facility has become one that can convey to future generations the lessons learned from the earthquake and the importance of the port, which was the purpose of the renovation.