Silver Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2026
Echoes Shinmachi Mixed Use Building
- A' Design Award 2026 Silver Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- CLIENT: Kosugi Real Estate Co., Ltd.
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 17,500
- Verification code 437E59F3D8 · Verify this award
About Echoes Shinmachi Mixed Use Building
Echoes Shinmachi is a mixed-use building in Kumamoto that reinterprets tradition through contemporary innovation. The design combines reinforced concrete for durability with timber for lightness, establishing a balance of strength and refinement. Locally fired brickwork, laid by skilled craftsmen, reflects cultural heritage while ensuring resilience. Each floor incorporates riverside terraces that encourage seasonal engagement and community life. Through its hybrid structure, material contrasts, and integration of sustainable practice, the project stands as a modern landmark bridging history.
Within the evolving discourse of contemporary mixed-use architecture, Hyunsoon Park's Echoes Shinmachi Mixed Use Building represents a thoughtful negotiation between contemporary spatial ambitions and vernacular sensibilities deeply rooted in regional building traditions. The structure appears to emerge from its densely woven residential context as both participant and gentle protagonist, its brick-clad base establishing material continuity with neighboring structures while its expansive glazed gable volume asserts a distinctly contemporary transparency. The architectural strategy seems to embrace what might be termed contextual contrast, wherein the building simultaneously honors the rhythms and scales of its surroundings while introducing a quality of luminous openness that distinguishes its civic or commercial purpose from purely domestic neighbors. The warm amber light radiating from within suggests an interior animated by human activity, transforming the structure into an urban lantern that marks place and purpose within the neighborhood fabric. The stepped wooden deck approach creates a graduated threshold between public street and interior realm, suggesting careful attention to the phenomenology of entry and the importance of welcoming gesture in mixed-use programming. The positioning of this illuminated contemporary intervention against the backdrop of traditional roofscapes and the distant hillside shrine creates a visual dialogue across temporal and cultural registers, suggesting that architectural innovation need not rupture continuity but may instead enrich ongoing conversations between past and present. The material palette demonstrates sophisticated restraint, with warm brick, natural wood, and extensive glazing creating a tripartite vocabulary that feels both grounded and aspirational. Viewers are invited to consider how architecture might serve as both shelter and signal, providing functional accommodation while also contributing to the legibility and vitality of urban neighborhoods.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Echoes Shinmachi is a mixed-use building in Kumamoto that reinterprets tradition through innovation. The design integrates reinforced concrete for permanence and timber for lightness, combining strength with refinement. Locally crafted brickwork connects to cultural heritage, while riverside terraces on every floor invite community interaction. Its hybrid structure, material contrast, and sustainable balance of durability and renewal distinguish it as a contemporary landmark that embodies both resilience and continuity.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Structure: Reinforced concrete and timber hybrid. Floors: B1 plus 2F. Site area: 188.17 sq.m. Building footprint: 126.09 sq.m. Total floor area: 253.63 sq.m. Roof: fluoropolymer-coated aluminum-zinc alloy steel sheet. Exterior walls: brick, exposed reinforced concrete (RC). Interior finishes: brick flooring, brick ceiling. Design period: Sept 2022 to July 2023. Construction period: Apr 2024 to Mar 2025.
- Tags
- Mixed Use Building, Hybrid Structure, Reinforced Concrete and Timber, Brick Facade, Riverside Architecture, Sustainable Design, Community Space, Kumamoto, Contemporary Japanese Architecture, Cultural Heritage
- Production Technology
- Echoes Shinmachi employs a hybrid structural system combining reinforced concrete for the basement and first floor with timber construction on the upper floor. Locally fired brick was laid by skilled craftsmen to achieve durability and warmth, while large glazed openings and cantilevered terraces required advanced structural detailing. A sustainable balance was pursued by integrating long-lasting concrete and renewable timber, ensuring resilience, cultural continuity, and a forward-looking architectural identity.
- Design Challenge
- The greatest challenge was reconciling historical continuity with modern requirements. The project had to respect Kumamoto's heritage while introducing new forms of mixed-use architecture. Externally, strict building codes and structural demands for cantilevered terraces required advanced engineering solutions. Internally, balancing durability with renewal through reinforced concrete (RC) and timber integration was complex. Overcoming these obstacles created a design rooted in tradition yet adaptable for the future.
- Project Duration
- The project started in September 2022 in Kumamoto, Japan, and the design phase was completed in July 2023. Construction commenced in April 2024 and is scheduled to be completed by March 2025. Echoes Shinmachi is located along the Tsuboigawa River in the historic Shinmachi district of Kumamoto.
- Operation Flow
- Visitors experience Echoes Shinmachi through a gradual sequence of spaces. From the riverside steps, one descends into a quiet public basement with views of the flowing water. The ground floor opens to the city as retail space, encouraging everyday interaction. On the second floor, offices extend toward the river with terraces that invite gatherings and seasonal discovery. The building performs better by linking city, community, and nature in a continuous flow.
- Research
- Type of research: architectural and cultural investigation. Objective: to integrate Kumamoto's historic riverside townscape with contemporary needs. Methodology: site surveys, archival research, and structural prototyping. Data collection: mapping riverfront use and studying traditional brickwork. Participants: local craftsmen, engineers, and community interviews. Results: a hybrid reinforced concrete (RC)-timber system and river terraces. Insights: architecture can connect heritage, sustainability, and community resilience.
- Inspiration
- The inspiration for Echoes Shinmachi came from Kumamoto's historic riverside townscape and the desire to bridge tradition with contemporary life. Motivated by the memory of the city and the resilience of its people, the project reinterprets local materials and craftsmanship through modern construction. Research into hybrid structures and cultural continuity guided the design, creating a building rooted in heritage yet open to the future.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Harunori NODA (Architectural Photographer) Ganko-sha, Echoes Shinmachi, 2025.
Image #2: Photographer Harunori NODA (Architectural Photographer) Ganko-sha, Echoes Shinmachi, 2025.
Image #3: Photographer Harunori NODA (Architectural Photographer) Ganko-sha, Echoes Shinmachi, 2025.
Image #4: Photographer Harunori NODA (Architectural Photographer) Ganko-sha, Echoes Shinmachi, 2025.
Image #5: Photographer Harunori NODA (Architectural Photographer) Ganko-sha, Echoes Shinmachi, 2025.
IP / COPYRIGHT / IMAGE / SOUND / VIDEO CREDITS: Photos © Harunori NODA, Architecture © Hyunsoon PARK / LaundryRice Architects - Patents
- Copyrights belong to Hyunsoon PARK / LaundryRice Architects, 2025.
Colors of Echoes Shinmachi Mixed Use Building
Design Interview about Echoes Shinmachi Mixed Use Building
The main principle is that architecture should not simply occupy a place, but become part of it. Echoes Shinmachi was inspired by the layered history of Kumamoto's Shinmachi district — a neighborhood shaped by centuries of castle town culture and the flow of the Tsuboigawa River. The design was guided by a single question: what kind of building truly belongs here? The answer was found not in imposing a new form, but in listening carefully to the city's memory and responding through materials, proportion, and spatial logic.
The main focus was achieving a building that bridges past and future without resorting to imitation or nostalgia. Four principles guided every design decision: Time, Firmness, Utility, and Beauty. We wanted to create a building that ages gracefully alongside its historic surroundings, offers genuine public value through riverside terraces open to the community, and embodies a quiet dignity through proportion and craftsmanship. Above all, we wanted Echoes Shinmachi to feel as though it had always belonged to this place.
Echoes Shinmachi is already operating as a mixed-use commercial building, contributing to the revitalization of the Shinmachi district. We hope it continues to serve as a community landmark and a catalyst for thoughtful urban development in Kumamoto. For LaundryRice Architects, this project represents a deepening commitment to context-driven design, and we intend to pursue similar approaches in future projects Worldwide.
The design process, from initial concept development through to construction completion, spanned approximately two years. The conceptual framework — grounded in the four principles of Time, Firmness, Utility, and Beauty — emerged early in the process and remained consistent throughout, guiding every decision from structural system to material selection.
This was a commissioned project. Kosugi Real Estate Holdings approached LaundryRice Architects to design a mixed-use building on the site where their company was founded. The significance of the location — both for the client and for the city of Kumamoto — made it immediately clear that the design had to go beyond function. The commission became an opportunity to explore how architecture can honor the memory of a place while opening new possibilities for its future.
Echoes Shinmachi is a completed architectural work, designed and realized by LaundryRice Architects for Kosugi Real Estate Holdings. It is not a product to be reproduced or licensed. The building is currently in operation as a mixed-use commercial facility in Kumamoto, Japan.
Architecture that engages deeply with its urban and historical context has always been at the core of our practice. LaundryRice Architects operates at the intersection of architecture and urbanism, believing that a building is a small city, and a city is a large building. Echoes Shinmachi offered a rare opportunity to put this philosophy into practice on a site with exceptional historical and cultural significance.
During his studies at the Politecnico di Milano, Hyunsoon PARK was deeply influenced by the European tradition of relating architecture to urban memory and collective identity. The thinking of Aldo Rossi on the relationship between architecture and the collective memory of the city was a particularly formative reference — his idea that cities carry the traces of their history in their physical form resonated deeply with the approach taken at Shinmachi. The experience of living and studying in Milan also sharpened an awareness of how historic urban fabric and contemporary architecture can coexist with integrity. The traditional Japanese concept of ma — the meaningful interval between things — further influenced the approach to proportion, spacing, and the framing of views.
The building serves multiple audiences. As a mixed-use commercial facility, it welcomes the local community of Shinmachi and visitors to Kumamoto. The riverside terraces are designed as public spaces accessible to anyone passing along the Tsuboigawa River. The client, Kosugi Real Estate Holdings, sought a building that would serve both as a business hub and as a community landmark — and the design responds to both ambitions.
What distinguishes Echoes Shinmachi is the rigor with which every design decision — from the structural system to the ceiling height — is grounded in a coherent conceptual framework. The use of the silver ratio throughout the building's proportions, the hybrid RC and timber structure that creates a dialogue between weight and lightness, and the multi-level riverside terraces that open the building to the city are not isolated gestures but expressions of a unified design philosophy. The building does not quote history; it converses with it.
The name Echoes Shinmachi reflects the building's relationship to its context. "Echoes" speaks to the way the architecture resonates with the historical memory of the Shinmachi district — not by copying the past, but by carrying its voice forward into the present. "Shinmachi" is the name of the historic neighborhood where the building stands. Together, the name captures the essence of a building that listens before it speaks.
The design process combined hand drawing and physical model-making in the early conceptual stages with CAD and SketchUp for technical development and spatial study. Physical models played a particularly important role in understanding the building's massing and its relationship to the riverside context. The integration of traditional craft — particularly in the brickwork and hand-chiseled concrete surfaces — required close collaboration with skilled artisans throughout the construction phase.
The most unique aspect is the building's relationship to time. Through the careful selection of brickwork chosen to stand in honest dialogue with the layered history of the place, the hybrid structural system that balances weight and lightness, and the silver ratio applied consistently throughout — Echoes Shinmachi is designed not for a single moment, but to age and deepen in meaning alongside its surroundings. It is architecture conceived as a presence that will grow more itself with the passage of time.
The project involved close collaboration with structural engineers, construction teams, and highly skilled craftsmen. The brickwork was laid by experienced artisans, and the reinforced concrete surfaces were finished using traditional hand-chiseling techniques. This level of craft required sustained dialogue between the design team and the builders throughout the construction process, ensuring that the material quality envisioned in the design was realized in the finished building.
Technology played a supporting role, enabling precision in structural engineering and construction coordination. However, the defining character of Echoes Shinmachi comes not from technological innovation but from the integration of traditional craft and material intelligence. The hybrid RC and timber structural system required sophisticated engineering, but its purpose was to create an architectural experience — the sensation of a heavy base giving way to a floating upper volume — that is fundamentally human and sensory.
Extensive research into the historical and urban context of the Shinmachi district informed every aspect of the design. This included study of the area's historical maps, the traditional building typologies of Kumamoto's castle town, and the spatial relationships between the Tsuboigawa River and the surrounding streetscape. The application of the silver ratio was grounded in research into Japanese traditional aesthetics and proportion systems. The design emerged from this contextual research rather than from quantitative data.
One of the primary challenges was achieving the desired material quality within the constraints of a commercial project. The hand-chiseled concrete surfaces and carefully laid brickwork required skilled artisans whose techniques are increasingly rare. Coordinating the hybrid RC and timber structural system also presented technical complexity, particularly in ensuring the visual lightness of the second floor while maintaining structural integrity. Balancing the aspiration for public openness — through the riverside terraces — with the practical requirements of a commercial tenancy was another ongoing challenge throughout the design process.
Echoes Shinmachi was the first completed project of LaundryRice Architects following the founding of the practice in 2022. Submitting it to international competitions was a natural decision — a way of testing the work against a global standard and placing it within an international conversation about architecture and urbanism. We believed that the building's approach — reading historical context to produce work that becomes part of the landscape — carried relevance beyond Japan, and that international recognition would help communicate this to a wider audience.
This project deepened our understanding of the relationship between craft and concept. It confirmed that the most meaningful architectural decisions are often the smallest ones — the height of a ceiling, the coursing of a brick, the angle of a view. Working closely with skilled artisans also reinforced the importance of sustained dialogue between designer and builder. Architecture is not completed on paper; it is realized through the hands of those who build it.
Echoes Shinmachi is the work of LaundryRice Architects, a practice founded in 2022 by Hyunsoon PARK — a Japanese-born Korean architect who studied at Hongik University in Seoul and the Politecnico di Milano, and spent 14 years at Nikken Sekkei before establishing his own practice. This background — spanning Japan, Korea, and Italy — informs a design sensibility that is neither purely Japanese nor purely international, but seeks to find what is most essential and most specific about each place. Echoes Shinmachi is an expression of that search.
Grand Interview about Echoes Shinmachi Mixed Use Building
The creation of the facade was a meticulous design decision aimed at harmonizing the building with the historic townscape along the Tsuboi River. Rather than using standard, uniform industrial materials, brickwork was chosen specifically for its ability to dissolve into the surrounding cultural context.The true material character of the building emerged through a calculated collaboration with local skilled craftsmen. We intentionally introduced variations in the texture, tones, and laying patterns of the bricks to avoid any modern, sterile perfection. The hands-on exchanges on site—carefully controlling this intentional irregularity and adjusting the mortar joints with the craftsmen—allowed us to craft a facade with visual depth and warmth. Through this precise dialogue, the contemporary structure successfully inherits the memory of the Tsuboi River landscape, feeling as though it has always been a natural part of the town.
Echoes Shinmachi addresses the dual challenges of cultural continuity and environmental responsibility by physically layering time and material through its hybrid structural system. In historically sensitive urban contexts, architectural heritage should not be preserved by merely mimicking old forms, but by extending the living lifecycle of the city itself.The building utilizes a durable Reinforced Concrete (RC) structure for the lower two stories to ensure the permanence, safety, and structural resilience demanded by modern urban settings. In contrast, the upper story features a renewable timber system that respects the scale and texture of the traditional wooden streetscape while significantly reducing the carbon footprint. This material pairing offers a highly transferable model for contemporary architects. It demonstrates that by anchoring a building with a permanent, resilient base and topping it with a sustainable, contextual material, we can reconcile environmental duty with historical permanence, allowing modern interventions to naturally co-exist within a heritage dialogue.
Initially, the project was conceived entirely as a timber structure. However, in our pursuit of a more rational and optimized structural system, the design evolved into a hybrid composition: a reinforced concrete (RC) base for the lower levels and a timber frame for the top story.Prototyping this hybrid system revealed an unexpected aesthetic opportunity. By forming the top story into a lightweight, cantilevered wooden cylinder and finishing its exterior with heavy brickwork, we created a powerful visual paradox. The structural lightness of the timber allowed the building to perform efficiently, while the brick facade gave the illusion of a massive, heavy object floating effortlessly in the air. What began as a search for structural rationality ultimately enriched the final design, transforming an engineering solution into a poetic architectural expression of floating weight.
I believe the jury resonated most profoundly with the building’s ability to achieve "spatial harmony" without erasing the traces of the past. Echoes Shinmachi does not simply preserve history as a museum piece; it reactivates the memory of the Tsuboi River landscape by integrating it into a contemporary urban dialogue. The visual paradox of the heavy brick cylinder floating over a rational RC base perfectly balanced structural innovation with a deep sensitivity toward the cultural context.Receiving the Silver A' Design Award is a powerful validation of my broader aspirations as an architect. Born as a Korean resident in Japan, my design philosophy is rooted in exploring identity, boundaries, and the layering of time. This international recognition proves that architectural language can transcend borders to bridge cultural continuity. Moving forward, this award serves as a launchpad for my vision to expand my architectural practice and research across Japan, Korea, and globally, demonstrating that the synthesis of heritage and modernity can create a universal social relevance for the future.
Navigating the tight web of strict building codes while engineering the cantilevered riverside terraces required a highly strategic integration of hardware and architectural vision. The most transformative decision was leveraging the hybrid structural system itself to solve these regulatory and physical challenges. By shifting the structural load to the robust, low-profile reinforced concrete (RC) base, we cleared the complex engineering hurdles of the cantilevered terraces along the Tsuboi River, ensuring absolute safety and compliance without compromising the design.This technical solution directly enriched the architecture's relationship with its heritage context. By taking the heavy structural burden off the upper level, we were able to sculpt the top story into a lightweight timber frame covered in brick, creating that poetic floating expression while respecting the historical scale of the townscape. This process deeply expanded my thinking about mixed-use architecture in layered urban settings; it taught me that regulatory constraints are not barriers to design, but catalysts. When structural rationality and cultural narrative are woven together, strict codes can actually guide an architect toward more innovative, resilient, and contextually respectful spatial solutions.
The spatial sequence of Echoes Shinmachi is choreographed to reflect the emotional and physical rhythms of daily life along the Tsuboi River. In this historic neighborhood, water and sky are not mere visual backdrops; they are structural elements of the community’s identity. The goal was to create a vertical journey where the architecture acts as a sensory filter between the bustling city and the serene natural context.The descent into the quiet basement provides an immediate transition—a moment of pause where visitors are embraced by the cool, grounded presence of the river views, mirroring the calm of early morning water. As one ascends through the retail and office spaces, the spatial energy gradually shifts from introverted contemplation to extroverted connection. Finally, emerging onto the sky-open terraces allows the journey to culminate in an expansive release, binding the human experience back to the changing light of Kumamoto's sky. By layering these transitions, the building doesn’t just house functions; it translates the fluid spirit of riverside life into a tangible, sensory architectural progression.
The core philosophy of LaundryRice Architects is rooted in the belief that architectural preservation should not be a nostalgic freezing of time, but a vibrant, ongoing conversation between past memories and future possibilities. The material and community strategies tested in Echoes Shinmachi will serve as the baseline blueprint for all our future projects.As Japanese cities navigate the tension between preservation and intense urban transformation, we reject the simple binary of scrap-and-build versus museum-like restoration. Instead, we advocate for the hybrid stacking of history—integrating robust, contemporary engineering with local material memories and actual community practices. In our future works, we will continue to design spaces that are structurally resilient yet culturally anchored. Furthermore, our approach emphasizes that an architect must not only draw plans but actively participate in the life of the building, such as starting the day at 5:00 AM to brew coffee and foster real human connections. By combining rigorous architectural practice, academic research, and grassroots community engagement, we aim to offer a sustainable model for the next generation of Japanese and global urbanism.
The most critical insight I wish to share with the broader architectural community is that deep historical and community research is not a separate preliminary phase, but the primary driver of structural and spatial form. By mapping the riverfront's history and interviewing the residents, we discovered that the identity of Shinmachi was always tied to the fluid relationship between the people and the water. The data we gathered directly dictated the structural boundaries and the vertical progression of the building.An aspect of the project that has not yet received the critical attention it deserves is the specific environmental and sensory design of the public basement. Most critics focus on the floating brick cylinder above, but the true understated innovation lies below. We carefully engineered the basement level to align intimately with the actual water level of the Tsuboi River. By doing so, the semi-underground space functions as an atmospheric filter, bringing the cool microclimate, the acoustic reflections of the water, and the historical memory of the riverfront directly back into the public realm of the city. It is not just a lower floor, but a calculated spatial bridge connecting the modern street to the ancient flow of the river.
The disciplined implementation of riverside terraces across every floor was deeply informed by my dual perspective as both an architect and an active community practitioner. During our initial site observations, we noticed that while Kumamoto has a rich history tied to its waterways, modern development had turning its back on the Tsuboi River, treating it merely as a drainage channel rather than a living asset. I wanted to forcefully reverse this trend. Furthermore, my personal experience running a community space and brewing coffee at 5:00 AM taught me that true community engagement requires consistent, physical platforms where people can naturally pause and connect with both nature and each other.Today, I assess the success of these terraces not by architectural praise, but by the daily life that unfolds within them. The recurring terraces act as a vertical neighborhood. We observe office workers taking breaks on the upper decks, visitors from the retail floors enjoying their coffee with a view of the water, and neighbors gathering to experience the seasonal changes of the Tsuboi River. By repeating this spatial gesture on every level, the building successfully bridges the gap between private commercial functions and public community life, proving that contemporary architecture can act as a catalyst for reviving urban-river relationships.
My ultimate goal for Echoes Shinmachi was to conclude the entire architecture using brick—a material that inherently captures and locks in the passage of time. This was not a superficial interior styling; the entire spatial dimension of the building was rigorously determined by the module of the brickwork layout (Renga-wari) from the very beginning. By wrapping these brick surfaces continuously onto both the flooring and the ceilings as much as possible, we created a deeply immersive environment that challenges the sterile coldness of standard modern spaces.To ensure this spatial generosity, the changing natural light from the Tsuboi River acts as a catalyst. As the river light reflects through the glass facade, it washes over the disciplined brick modules on the floors and ceilings, casting shadows that highlight the human craft woven into the architecture’s dimensions. The raw cantilevered concrete provides structural weight, the glass brings openness, and the omnipresent brickwork anchors the interior with a sense of permanent shelter. By allowing the brick module to dictate the building's physical and sensory proportions, the interior achieves a profound historical depth, ensuring that the human experience on the inside is entirely synchronized with the architectural narrative.