TAIKA

The problem

Japan’s dense, aging wooden neighborhoods, known as mokumitsu, are among the country’s most vulnerable places in an earthquake. When a major quake strikes, fires break out in many places at once and spread from house to house faster than firefighters can respond. With the Nankai Trough megaquake expected within decades, every minute a building resists fire matters.

What we made

TAIKA, meaning “fire resistance,” is a bio-based coating that is brushed onto existing wood to slow flame spread and reduce smoke. It is made from waste: chitosan extracted from mushroom caps and stems, and silica recovered from the spent substrate mushrooms are grown on. It protects the buildings that already stand, and turns an agricultural by-product into protection.

How it works

Chitosan is extracted through a warm-water, alkaline and neutralization process; silica is isolated by incinerating and purifying the spent substrate. Combined into a coating and torch-tested on wood at roughly 600–1,300°C, formulations with higher silica ratios performed best.

My role

I worked across the project: shaping its strategy, producing the film and animation, and working in the lab with the team on mixing formulations and the chemistry behind them.