With the new year in sight and 2011 about to slip into the annals of history, the defining event of this year, the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, is now starting to recede into the distance. Though for those directly touched by the tragedy, it will of course always be present in the absence of homes or loved ones.

However, there is another group setting out to remember that terrible day — Japan's architects.

These include the master-course students from several architectural firms who made the models featured in the latest exhibition at Toto Gallery Ma in Tokyo's Roppongi district, where 14 of the many towns devastated by the earthquake and tsunami are being depicted.