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DesignNewswire · COMO, Italy ·

Silver A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design Goes to The Three Roof House by Masashi Nakamoto

The international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Masashi Nakamoto for architecture, building and structure design

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 19, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ The Three Roof House by Masashi Nakamoto, designed for Ader Co.,Ltd, has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.

The Silver A' Design Award Explained

The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.

About The Three Roof House

The Three Roof is a house in Okinawa, Japan. Traditional Okinawan houses use long eaves to reduce subtropical heat, but deep eaves also block daylight and darken the interior. The roof is divided into three parts, so daylight enters from the north side and air passes through the house more easily. The split roof gives each area a suitable ceiling height and creates variety in the space. A pillarless space of 4.0 meters is provided under the low eaves and can be used flexibly. The building is made of reinforced concrete with exposed concrete walls.

About Masashi Nakamoto

Masashi Nakamoto is a proactive architect based in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, situated at the southernmost tip of the country, boasting a subtropical climate. As a young architect, he leverages Okinawa's distinct climate to inform his designs, aiming to harmonize with the natural landscape and devise architecture. His knowledge and spatial design skills have also been adopted in Taiwan, which has a climate similar to that of Okinawa, and are active both domestically and internationally. He has garnered acclaim, including awards for his outstanding spatial design achievements.

Award Record

This recognition makes Masashi Nakamoto a winner of 1 A' Design Award.

About the A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award

The A' Architecture Design Award is an international architectural design competition recognizing good architectural designs by best architects worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to architectural design studios, building contractors, structural engineering firms and architecture and design consultants from all countries. Typical entries include skyscrapers, museums, residential buildings, commercial complexes, educational institutions and religious structures. The awarded architectural projects are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/architecture

About A' Design Award & Competition

Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com

Press Resources

Media Contact

Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953

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Fact Sheet

The Work

Project
The Three Roof House
Function
House
Category
Architecture, Building and Structure Design
Discipline
Spatial Design
Industry
Architecture
Colors
Dark Slate Gray, Cornflower Blue, Dim Gray, Sky Blue and Black
Images
5
Client
Ader Co.,Ltd

The Recognition

Laureate
Masashi Nakamoto
Country
Japan
Recognition
Silver A' Design Award
Edition
2023 - 2024
Design ID
#152072

Credits

Image Credits
All images photo by Mamiyasan

Design Details

Unique Properties
By dividing the roof into three parts, It ensured daylight from the north side and made it easier for air to pass through. The split roof secures the ceiling height suitable for each place and brings about change in the space. It has a 4.0 meters space under the eaves in a pillarless space, but it keeps the height of the eaves low. Therefore, it is possible to protect a comfortable space with good ventilation while suppressing the strong sunlight of Okinawa.
Inspiration
The traditional okinawan house uses long eaves to stave off the subtropical heat. But it blocks natural light and darkens the house. In order to solve this problem, the roof was divided into three parts and the house was brightened by taking in natural light from between the roofs. There is also Amahaji which provides a flexible space under the eaves. The space under the eaves is called “Amahaji” in Okinawa.
Research
Amahaji* is characterized by protection from the strong sunlight of Okinawa. It can be used for a variety of purposes, such as communicating with visitors, or sitting and looking outside. In addition, there is no wall between Amahaji and inside, and it is partitioned by fittings. In this project, the space is more than doubled compared to the traditional one.
Challenge
In this area at least one third of the roof must be slope. The plan is based on a pitched roof from the traditional Okinawan house. The split roof allows natural light where not blocked by structures such as pillars and walls. It also maintains its own structure, and the roof looks like it’s floating.
Realization and Technology
Both X and Y directions of this building are planned with wall type reinforced concrete construction, and steel pipe posts are arranged at places requiring consideration for landscape. Because of the mixed structure, earthquake resistant walls are arranged without bias, and column heads and column legs of steel pipes are embedded to evaluate spring rigidity. As the cantilever span has a maximum of 5.0 m, the roof is uniformly planned with an extremely thick mat slab of 450 mm.
Operation and Interaction
The purpose of this project was to make good use of the climate of Okinawa and provide comfortable living. There are many good hints in traditional architecture. Also it has construction techniques unique to the subtropical region so we have evolved them with modern construction technology to provide a more livable living space.
Project Duration and Location
Okinawa Japan. The basic design started in March 2019. Completion date is December 2021. The site is bordered by three roads and is elongated east west. The site is characterized by apartments and commercial facilities in the north, and a spacious landscape in the south.
Specifications
Site area : 753.04 m2 Building area : 318.00 m2 Total floor area : 285.93 m2 Structure : Reinforced Concrete Structure Main external finishes Roof : concrete Exterior wall : exposed concrete Main internal finishes Floor : Walnut flooring Inside Wall : exposed concrete Ceiling : Western red cedar & exposed concrete
Keywords
Architecture, Single houses, Flexible space, Roof, Japan, Okinawa,

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