Tetsuya Matsumoto Receives the Bronze A' Design Award for Pure Semicircles School in Interior Space and Exhibition Design

Tetsuya Matsumoto recognized for interior space and exhibition design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 20, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Pure Semicircles School by Tetsuya Matsumoto, designed for Seigakusha Co., Ltd., has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design category. The result belongs to the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed 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.

Regarding Pure Semicircles School

Pure Semicircles is a cram school interior in Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan. The design offers a pure space with minimal lines and shapes, so students can focus on their subjects. The entrance leads to a semicircular reception area, where a mirror set on the median line reflects the form and completes a full circle. The ceiling is made of rippled stainless steel sheets and is lit by linear light sources. Greenery and wood blinds add warmth to the white minimalist space. Two study rooms hold a central table and counters along the windows.

About Tetsuya Matsumoto

Tetsuya Matsumoto is the founder and Head Architect Designer at KTX archiLAB based in Japan, and a Lecturer of a space design course at Osaka University of Art. After graduating from the same university, he specialized in commercial space design and built a large portfolio of projects varying both in type and scale, from shops and restaurants to offices and clinics, and from a small pharmacy to a large Hospital. Tetsuya has received more than a hundred local and international design awards and became a jury member for several prestigious prizes.

Award Record

With this recognition, Tetsuya Matsumoto is a winner of 25 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2014 - 2015 and the 2024 - 2025 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.

About the A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award

The A' Interior Design Award is an international interior design competition recognizing good interior designs by interior designers and architects worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to interior designers, interior architects, architects and decorators from all countries. Typical entries include residential interiors, restaurants, hotels, offices, galleries and retail stores. The awarded interior designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/interior

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/169734
A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/169734
Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!169734
Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/148039
Further Information from the Laureate: https://ktx.space/

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: Pure Semicircles School
Function: School
Category: Interior Space and Exhibition Design
Discipline: Spatial Design
Industry: Architecture and Packaging & Retail
Colors: Gainsboro, Silver, Linen, Dark Gray and Rosy Brown
Images: 5
Client: Seigakusha Co., Ltd.

The Recognition

Laureate: Tetsuya Matsumoto
Country: Japan
Recognition: Bronze A' Design Award
Edition: 2024 - 2025
Design ID: #169734

Credits

Design Details

Unique Properties: Pure Semicircles is a cram school located in Osaka. The school offers a pure space with minimal lines and shapes where the students can focus on their subjects. Greenery maintains a strong presence to provide a relaxing atmosphere and wood blinds help create warmth in a rather minimalist white space. The main design point is the semicircular entrance with ripples stainless steel ceiling reflecting the space and a mirrored wall in the median that completes the circle.
Inspiration: This design is inspired by the function of the space. Schools need to have spaces that provide an atmosphere where students can concentrate on their studies. But they also need to be cozy and offer relaxed and playful places. More than just study desks, schools need to become attractive and interesting to their main users, teenagers who are already building their lives into our contemporary society.
Research: Pure Semicircles design has two axes of research. The first one is aimed at guaranteeing an atmosphere where students can focus on learning while still enjoying the space and relaxing. The second one is aimed at visually creating a space that is attractive in a relatively narrow room that is surrounded by windows that overlook the bustling city outside. The quest was to find a middle between the two.
Challenge: The creative challenge was mostly how to make a school fashionable in the eyes of teenage students, fulfil its functional duty, all of this in a relatively narrow space and a relatively limited budget. How to keep a space pure while still making it cozy. How to make it rich in materiality while keeping it minimalist and not distracting. The answer was by using unique materials such as the rippled stainless steel for the ceiling, mirrored walls, greenery, and wood blinds.
Realization and Technology: The space was created using drywall techniques and mostly finished in wall cloth. The ceiling is made with rippled stainless steel sheets. The semicircle reception space has a mirror in the median line that reflects it and completes the circular form. The lighting is secured through linear light sources in the middle of the stainless steel and around it as well. The study room is equipped with downlights.
Operation and Interaction: The entrance gives straight to a semicircular reception space doubled by a mirrored wall. The reception leads then to the consultation booth where parents, students and staff can talk. The other side is occupied by offices. In the middle the space opens to the study space with a central table and a counter on the window side. Another arched opening leads to the second study room which is a counter along the windows.
Project Duration and Location: Project start: September 2024. Construction starts: December 2024. Project/Construction End: January 2025. Location: Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan.
Specifications: Gross Built Area: 149.69sqm W20330mm x D13230mm x H2470mm
Keywords: Japan, school, education, students, ripple, Osaka, minimalist, reflection, students, office