Urawa Garden Bldg Office by Nobuaki Miyashita is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 Silver A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design Competition Category.
SilverArchitecture· 2025
Urawa Garden Bldg Office
Client: Garden Group
Silver A' Design Award Winner in Architecture Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #171588The Design
About Urawa Garden Bldg Office
Urawa Garden Building is an office building in Urawa, Saitama, Japan. A through passage crosses the site and links the surrounding streets, recalling the former Nakaginza Seven shopping street. Open plazas along the passage give pedestrians and office workers places to meet. The facade carries floating glass cubes with varying transparency, so the appearance shifts with the daylight. Natural materials, greenery and art are used in the interior workspaces. Energy-efficient lighting and passive design strategies support comfort and sustainability.
The Recognition
About the Silver A' Design Award
Urawa Garden Bldg Office is a Silver A' Design Award winner, an extraordinarily prestigious recognition granted to top-of-the-line, gorgeous, and impressive designs. Silver winners are tremendously brilliant and exceedingly creative works that illustrate the outstanding expertise, talent, and acuity of their designers. Urawa Garden Bldg Office is expected to be a wonderful, showpiece work that is remarkably professional and profoundly innovative. This Silver A' Design Award-winning design is a highly notable, admired invention that benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Urawa Garden Bldg Office is a vastly envied creation that evokes desires, introduces positive feelings, and sparks amazement and wonderment.
Where to Get It
Contemporary Architecture and Urban Design
We create distinctive architecture that reveals each project's unique identity through innovative design. Our expertise spans office buildings, hotels, commercial spaces, cultural facilities, and urban developments. With decades of international recognition, we deliver site-specific solutions that seamlessly integrate with their surroundings while fostering community engagement.
Discuss Your ProjectInterviews
Grand Interview
Your innovative integration of a public passage within URAWA GARDEN BLDG. Office beautifully bridges historical street grids with modern design - could you elaborate on how this architectural choice reflects your vision for urban connectivity and community engagement?
The public passage was conceived as a modern reinterpretation of Urawa’s historical street grids. By embedding a pedestrian route through the site, the building reconnects fragmented urban layers—linking the past of the old Nakaginza Seven street with the city’s new commercial axis. This architectural gesture embodies my belief that office buildings should not isolate themselves, but rather contribute to the rhythm of public life and collective movement.
The floating glass cube facade of URAWA GARDEN BLDG. Office creates a striking visual dialogue with the cityscape - what inspired your decision to incorporate varying levels of transparency, and how does this design element contribute to the building's role as an urban landmark?
The floating glass cubes express openness and lightness within an urban context dominated by dense structures. The varying transparency was inspired by the gradation of reflection found in water surfaces—sometimes revealing, sometimes concealing. This controlled transparency allows the building to act as both mirror and lantern, symbolizing the balance between visibility and quiet presence in the cityscape.
How did the historical legacy of the Edo-period urban structures and the former Nakaginza Seven shopping street influence your conceptual approach to URAWA GARDEN BLDG. Office's spatial organization and flow patterns?
The Edo-period layout of narrow alleys and sequential courtyards deeply informed the project’s spatial rhythm. The through passage inherits that intimate scale, creating a layered urban experience that unfolds gradually. The design reflects how the cultural DNA of Urawa—its modesty and rhythm—can be reinterpreted within contemporary architecture.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Urawa Garden Building is an office structure centered around a "through passage" that connects the city and its people. It inherits the memory of the former "Nakaginza Seven" shopping street, integrating passageways and plazas to enhance urban flow. Floating glass cubes on the facade interact with the cityscape, symbolizing openness and transparency. Inside, greenery and art installations create a stimulating workspace that fosters creativity and interaction.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Site area: 1,854.21 square meters
Building area: 1,159.37 square meters
Total floor area: 10,967.32 square meters
Structure: S (CFT), RC, SRC
Number of floors: 1 basement, 10 above ground
Max height: 43.7 meters
Eaves height: 43.1 meters - Tags
- architecture, office, urban design, passage, glass facade, sustainability
- Production Technology
- The facade integrates glass panels with varying transparency, reflecting urban layers dynamically. Natural materials harmonize with the surroundings, creating a warm and inviting office space. An energy-efficient lighting scheme and passive design strategies enhance sustainability and comfort, ensuring an environmentally responsible and user-friendly work environment.
- Design Challenge
- The primary challenge was balancing commercial functions with public accessibility. By strategically placing the through passage and open plazas, the project strengthened the connection between office spaces and the urban fabric. The floating glass cubes required innovative lightweight structures and varied transparency to seamlessly integrate the architecture with the cityscape.
- Research
- Type of Research: Urban architectural design
Objective: Exploring the potential of offices integrating commercial and public space
Methodology: Analysis of historical urban transitions, urban-scale simulations
Data Collection: Pedestrian movement observations, visual simulations
Results: Creation of an urban-office hybrid through passageways and plazas
Impact: Enhancing pedestrian networks and establishing a new urban icon - Inspiration
- The design draws inspiration from the site’s historical layers, reinterpreting Edo-period urban structures and the postwar vibrancy of local shopping streets. The building reconstructs past pedestrian flows, creating an open urban space. The floating glass cubes symbolize the lights and energy of the former market, establishing a new architectural landmark that bridges tradition and contemporary urban life.
- Project Duration
- The project is located in Urawa, Saitama, Japan, and was completed in February 2024.
- Operation Flow
- The through passage seamlessly connects the building to the city, allowing both office workers and pedestrians to interact fluidly. Open plazas enhance community engagement, providing diverse activity spaces. The glass cubes on the facade capture light dynamically, shifting appearances throughout the day and reinforcing the building’s urban presence.
- Patents
- N/A
- Team Members
- N/A
- Image Credits
- Image #1,#2,#3,#4,#5: Photographer Nobuaki Miyashita, 2024
Sponsored
Explore Beyond Designers.org
Discover products, services and opportunities from our advertising partners.
More to Explore
Related Designs
Explore more award-winning designs from the same category, selected by merit.
