Two groups of scientists, architects and urban planners have built two green building experiments a few feet apart in the Memu Meadows farm in Taiki-cho, located in the south end of Hokkaido. The prototypes attempt to merge conventional barn designs with nature in an environment known for its brutal winters. Co+Labo Radović, the urban design laboratory of Tokyo’s Keio University, is trying to combine animal and human environments with the "Barn House" project. They are calling the house the "next generation sustainable house", due to its use of a combination of passive solar design (collects, stores and distributes solar heat in the winter and rejects solar heat in the summer) and all-natural fuels from biological sources.

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