Rice Cakes Thrown to Celebrate Use of Canadian OSB in Nursery School Project

By: Scott Anderson

Canada Wood Japan / APA representative

The APA-The Engineered Wood Association recently visited a mid-sized nursery school job site in Miyazaki Prefecture where 3×8, 9mm Canadian OSB was used for wall sheathing. The Ginnan Nursery School is a 1-storey 2×4 structure being built in Tanocho, a suburban area of Miyazaki City. The project is an extension onto an old steel frame building. Construction of the new nursery started on December 2021 and when completed at the beginning of July this year it will be a 335.48 m² (app. 3,610 ft²) size facility. The general contractor for this project is Shida Gumi and the wooden structural materials and framing carpenters were supplied by Lumber One, both based in Miyazaki. The architect, AAO Co., Ltd. explained that the original plan was to build a post and beam structure but after consultation with the nursery owner they changed this to a 2×4 building as this was less expensive and the construction time was shorter. AAO also promoted a wooden building as having a healthier environment for the young children at the school.

Omochi Throwing Ceremony

On the day of our visit a special ceremony was held to commemorate the completion of the framing of the building. The main people involved in this ceremony then climbed onto scaffolding to throw wrapped ‘omochi’ (Japanese rice cakes) to the children attending the nursery school. It was quite the scene watching the children and their parents scramble around to scoop up the cakes! This visit provided APA an opportunity to promote and showcase how our member’s OSB products can offer structural solutions for these types of non-residential projects.

Canadian OSB Wall Sheathing