Pure Semicircles School by Tetsuya Matsumoto is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 Bronze A' Design Award in Interior Space and Exhibition Design Competition Category.
BronzeInterior· 2025
Pure Semicircles School
Client: Seigakusha Co., Ltd.
Bronze A' Design Award Winner in Interior Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #169734The Design
About 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.
The Recognition
About the Bronze A' Design Award
Pure Semicircles School is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Pure Semicircles School is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Pure Semicircles School splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.
Where to Get It
Award-Winning Commercial Interior Design Services
We transform commercial spaces into inspiring environments that balance functionality with contemporary aesthetics. With expertise spanning retail, educational, healthcare, and hospitality sectors, our designs create memorable experiences. Recognized internationally for innovative spatial solutions.
Discuss Your ProjectBehind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- 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.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Gross Built Area: 149.69sqm
W20330mm x D13230mm x H2470mm - Tags
- Japan, school, education, students, ripple, Osaka, minimalist, reflection, students, office
- Production 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. - Design 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Project Duration
- Project start: September 2024.
Construction starts: December 2024.
Project/Construction End: January 2025.
Location:
Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan. - Operation Flow
- 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.
- Team Members
- Tetsuya Matsumoto
- Image Credits
- Image #1: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf Photography, Pure Semicircles, 2025.
Image #2: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf Photography, Pure Semicircles, 2025.
Image #3: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf Photography, Pure Semicircles, 2025.
Image #4: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf Photography, Pure Semicircles, 2025.
Image #5: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf Photography, Pure Semicircles, 2025.
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