RHFrom the desert it’s not so far to the lunar landscape, which is also the topic of an ongoing project of yours. How did you get involved in outer space design?

HHI love to explore how people can live, first by themselves, later in a group. Outer space features similar obstacles like the desert. How to carry on our lifestyle far away from civilization is an interesting exercise in theoretic thinking. It’s almost impossible for humans to survive in space. In the desert there are 50-degree differences between day and night, but on the moon we are talking 300.

RHAre Japanese construction companies really planning buildings up there?

HHThe government does research and so do I, but there are too many insurmountable conditions.

RHSo it’s more a private hobby?

HHThis is not a project I work on by myself, but together with others specializing in space. It’s all in the first stage, and as I said, an interesting thought experiment. The world population is still increasing 　 so this could be one of our options sometime in the future. At the same time it’s of course more important, to think how to survive in our mega-cities of the 21st century.

RHIs there a difference when you work as an architect in Japan or abroad?

HHNot so much in the philosophy but within in the construction system. Here, there are big construction companies who supply everything from start to end, which is not the case in America or Europe. Architects in Japan have no responsibility for the construction process itself.

RHWhen is the best time for you to work?

HHAfter midnight, with a very soft pencil, 4B, I love to draw.

RHAre there construction materials that you hope will be developed in the near future?