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DesignNewswire · COMO, Italy ·

Hatsuo Morimoto Receives the Bronze A' Design Award for Ike House in Architecture, Building and Structure Design

The international grand jury of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Hatsuo Morimoto for architecture, building and structure design

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 23, 2021 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Bronze A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category for Ike House by Hatsuo Morimoto, designed for moKA architectural design office. The result belongs to the 2020 - 2021 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 Bronze A' Design Award Explained

The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.

More About Ike House

Ike is a three-story house with a penthouse, built in a densely populated urban area of Nagoya, Japan. The reinforced concrete building has a site area of 365 square meters and a floor area of 602 square meters. The outer walls are finished in wood grained concrete, made by lining the formwork with cedar boards before the concrete is poured. Wood garage doors, curtain wall glass and stone fence blocks complete the exterior. Three pocket gardens bring indirect light, air and greenery into the rooms. The upper floors are offset so that sunlight still reaches the neighboring houses.

About Hatsuo Morimoto

I am a Japanese residential architect. The house should act as a device that connects to the city, not a box for storing people in the city. We believe that design that connects people and things can bring the city to life without the power of large capital. My clients are also interested in the value that the home becomes a shared asset of the city. My nomination is to edit the city, how to design the outside as well as the inside of the house.

Award Record

Hatsuo Morimoto 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

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
Ike House
Function
House
Category
Architecture, Building and Structure Design
Discipline
Spatial Design
Industry
Architecture
Colors
Dim Gray, Gray, Light Blue, Dark Slate Gray and Light Slate Gray
Images
5
Client
moKA architectural design office

The Recognition

Laureate
Hatsuo Morimoto
Country
Japan
Recognition
Bronze A' Design Award
Edition
2020 - 2021
Design ID
#110168

Design Details

Unique Properties
The concrete of the outer wall skin of the building is grained. This kind of skin is expressed by pasting a cedar board inside the formwork and pouring concrete into it. By providing this concrete wall three-dimensionally, it gives a sense of dynamism to the architecture. By changing the composition of the surface, it becomes a sculptural accent of the overall form. These "deviations" provide space for light and wind to enter and exit, and also provide benefits to the interior space.
Inspiration
The urban areas of Japan are often densely populated with houses. It is necessary to think about the architectural space in the limited site, even though it is imminent with the neighboring house. How to arbitrate with the surrounding environment is an important design issue. Residents want to hide their private life, but it's stuffy to be closed. Therefore, we focused on materials that have various transmission functions on the exodermis.
Research
Since the Meiji era, 150 years ago, feudal regulations have been removed, and it has become possible to own land and build houses according to financial resources. The site in the city area is becoming more fragmented, the distance to the neighboring house is becoming closer, and privacy is becoming more conscious. The property awareness of land and buildings is increasing, and people tend to be nervous about actions at the border. But housing should not be too closed. The task this time is a perfect balance of the transparency of the various skins that architecture wears.
Challenge
Neighboring houses need to be considerate of each other because they stand urgently in this environment of the city. The shape of this house is offset toward the upper floors so that the neighboring house does not limit all sunlight. Furthermore, it is designed to acquire the necessary living space while suppressing the height, which is a legal constraint.
Realization and Technology
As a designer, I am also aware of the cityscape in this residential area. The exterior material should have been fashion-independent. I used universal wood grained concrete exposed finishes, garage door wood, curtain wall glass, and stone fence blocks. These have a solid design that directly conveys the texture of the material. In a densely populated urban area, it contributes to the formation of a good cityscape without being eccentric.
Operation and Interaction
This house occupies about 70% of the land. I try to encourage indirect light and ventilation into the room by setting up gardens as pockets in three places. As a result, the residents can see the greenery arranged there from the interior space of the house.
Project Duration and Location
This project started in Nagoya in October 2016, started construction in May 2017, and was completed in January 2019.
Specifications
Site area 365㎡, floor area 602㎡, 3 stories + penthouse, reinforced concrete construction
Keywords
Architecture, House, Concrete, Curtain wall, Garden, Japanese

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