Press Release
Salhaus Receives the Silver A' Design Award for Sreed Ebisu T Office Building in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
Salhaus recognized for architecture, building and structure design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 19, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category for Sreed Ebisu T Office Building by Salhaus, designed for Sapporo Real Estate Co., Ltd. The result belongs to the 2024 - 2025 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.
About the Silver A' Design Award
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.
More About Sreed Ebisu T Office Building
Sreed Ebisu T is a nine story office building in Ebisu, Shibuya ward, Tokyo. The building uses a hybrid structure that combines a steel post and beam frame with timber seismic frames inserted into it. The timber frame, named the seismic timber lattice shell, serves as both a structural and an interior element. Members that resist only seismic force do not require fireproofing, so the timber remains exposed. The lower floors hold restaurants or retail stores, and the upper floors hold offices. Common terraces along the staircase support breaks and interaction.
About Salhaus
Motoki Yasuhara is a Japanese architect and associate professor at the University of Tokyo. After working for nine years at the office of Riken Yamamoto, a 2024 Pritzker Prize laureate, he co-founded the architect office SALHAUS in Tokyo with Masashi Hino and Mari Tochizawa. Since then, he has received high praise for the many timber public buildings with local timber. In recent years, he has also realized several high-profile projects involving mixed-use urban architecture, including urban timber buildings.
Award Record
Salhaus is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.
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
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/163949
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/163949
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!163949
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/358642
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://salhaus.com/
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
- Sreed Ebisu T Office Building
- Function
- Office Building
- Category
- Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture
- Colors
- Dark Slate Blue, Steel Blue, Black, Dark Slate Gray and Dim Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Sapporo Real Estate Co., Ltd
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Salhaus
- Country
- Japan
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #163949
Credits
- Team
- Motoki Yasuhara, Masashi Hino, Mari Tochizawa and Jun Sato
- Image Credits
- Image #1：Photographer Makoto Yoshida, 2023 Image #2：Photographer Makoto Yoshida, 2023 Image #3：Photographer Makoto Yoshida, 2023 Image #3：Photographer Makoto Yoshida, 2023 Image #4：Photographer Makoto Yoshida, 2023
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This project is a nine-story office building in Tokyo. We tried to create a new prototype for urban timber architecture in this project. Our proposal was a hybrid structure of a steel post-and-beam frame and timber seismic frames inserted into it. This timber frame, which we call a "seismic timber lattice shell," is not only a structural but also an interior element to realize new workspaces where people can work in a more relaxed mode, enjoying the spatial value of the timber construction.
- Inspiration
- The design of this building was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. People stayed home; some even said office buildings were no longer necessary. In this project, we considered what kind of workspace would be worth visiting and working in even after online working technology was established. Our answer was architecture, which provides the comfort of a home and maximizes the value of working together.
- Research
- Two primary motivations for promoting the construction of timber buildings in Japan today are, reducing CO2 emissions during construction and making use of the vast forest stock. Structural strength and fire resistance are the main issues when employing timber for urban buildings. We developed a method of using timber as a seismic element to brace steel frames, which can also work as an exposed interior element; structural members that only act against seismic force do not require fireproofing.
- Challenge
- As this was an unprecedented construction method, we put great effort into the detailed design of the steel and timber joints. During the construction phase, we formed a team with a contractor, a steel fabricator, and a timber fabricator, both with high technical capabilities, and worked out the details of the joints while sharing 3D data. In addition, there were differences in the production accuracy between the two fabricators, so we paid close attention to the accuracy management on site.
- Realization and Technology
- Urban timber architectures, which have recently been booming in Japan, are dominated by multi-story buildings with post-and-beam frames that have acquired special fire-resistance certification. However, these buildings simply replace RC or steel-frame construction with timber and do not possess the spatiality unique to timber construction. Our goal was to create a new typology of urban timber architectures that maximizes the spatial value of timber construction and allows end users to enjoy the value.
- Operation and Interaction
- In addition to creating an intimate workspace wrapped in timber on each floor, we created rich common spaces to facilitate workers' interaction. We designed a staircase not only as a simple evacuation route but also as a daily traffic route and arranged many common terraces along it. Taking a break outdoors or communicating with people from other companies will activate collaboration and creativity among workers.
- Project Duration and Location
- This building's site is located in Ebisu, Shibuya-ward, Tokyo. We designed the building from June 2020 to June 2021, and construction work was carried out from June 2021 to January 2023. The building was put into use immediately after that, and all floors are currently rented out to tenants.
- Specifications
- This project is a 9-story, 34.3m-high rental building with a total floor area of 564.7m2 and a footprint of 80.0m2. The ground and first floors are for restaurants or retail stores, and the third to ninth floors are for offices. It has an evacuation staircase and an evacuation balcony on each floor required by law, and an elevator. In addition, it is a fireproof building under the Building Standards Act.
- Keywords
- Architecture, Timber, urban, Office, workspace
