House In Mise Private Home by Tomomi Omachi Wins the Bronze A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design

Tomomi Omachi honored for architecture, building and structure design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 18, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Bronze A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category for House In Mise Private Home by Tomomi Omachi. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated 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.

About House In Mise Private Home

House In Mise is a renovation of a traditional Japanese rural residence located in a river valley in Mitsuse, Saga Prefecture. The project restores the spatial clarity of the original timber structure while reconnecting daily life with the surrounding forest and flowing water. Carefully positioned openings, deep eaves, and layered transitional spaces allow light, shadow, and seasonal change to shape the interior environment. Locally sourced materials including cedar, hinoki cypress, reed, granite, and handcrafted shoji reinforce climatic compatibility and material authenticity.

About Tomomi Omachi

tou. is an architecture practice founded on the principle of thinking and questioning together with clients to arrive at considered outcomes. The name reflects a layered meaning: an offering “to you,” an inquiry-driven process, and a dialogue between designer and client. The practice focuses on creating living environments shaped by individual lifestyles, natural context, and the passage of time. Its work emphasizes continuity, simplicity, and the integration of intangible values such as memory and experience, contributing to built environments that support reflective and adaptive ways of living.

Award Record

Tomomi Omachi 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://designers.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

Winner Page: https://designers.org/182293
A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/182293
Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!182293
Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/380496
Further Information from the Laureate: https://tou-architect.com/

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: House In Mise Private Home
Function: Private Home
Category: Architecture, Building and Structure Design
Discipline: Spatial Design
Industry: Architecture
Colors: Dark Olive Green, Black, Dark Slate Gray and Dark Gray
Images: 5

The Recognition

Laureate: Tomomi Omachi
Country: Japan
Recognition: Bronze A' Design Award
Edition: 2025 - 2026
Design ID: #182293

Credits

Image Credits: Photographer Tatsuya Tabii, House in Mise, 2025.

Design Details

Unique Properties: This project is a renovation of a traditional Japanese rural house that reorients daily living toward forest and river through spatial layering, light modulation, and material authenticity. By retaining the existing timber structure and integrating engawa-like thresholds with locally sourced materials, it achieves environmental continuity, sensory depth, and long-term sustainability.
Inspiration: The project was inspired by traditional Japanese residential architecture, where light, shadow, and seasonal change shape daily life, and by the site’s forested river landscape in Mitsuse, Saga Prefecture. The client’s desire for refuge from urban intensity prompted a research-based approach to spatial layering, engawa reinterpretation, and material authenticity, integrating climate-responsive design and local craftsmanship to restore continuity between dwelling and nature.
Research: Type of Research: Contextual architectural design research. Research Objectives: To explore how traditional Japanese architecture can reconnect daily life with nature. Methodology: Long-term site observation and iterative renovation design. Data Collection and Tools: Climate analysis, spatial studies, material testing, and architectural drawings. Participants: Architect and client collaboration over five years. Results: A restored house integrating light, river, forest, and seasonal change. Insights and Impact: Demonstrates how culturally rooted renovation can improve well-being and sustainable living.
Challenge: The primary challenge was reconciling contemporary living requirements with the preservation of a deteriorated traditional timber structure whose original spatial coherence had been lost through incremental alterations. Structural limitations, regulatory constraints on renovation, and climatic demands of a humid mountain valley required precise intervention. The project demanded selective demolition, careful structural repair, and the reinterpretation of traditional spatial principles to restore environmental continuity without erasing historical character.
Realization and Technology: The project was realized through adaptive reuse of an existing post-and-beam timber structure, retaining approximately 80% of the original frame. Traditional Japanese carpentry and joinery were combined with precise contemporary detailing to recalibrate openings, deep eaves, and spatial thresholds. Locally sourced cedar, hinoki cypress, reed, granite, and handcrafted shoji paper were integrated to ensure climatic compatibility, material longevity, and seamless interior–exterior continuity.
Operation and Interaction: The house is experienced through a gradual sequence between interior and nature. Large sliding openings connect the lounge, dining area, and guest spaces to terraces facing the river and surrounding forest. Light, wind, and seasonal landscape continuously transform the atmosphere throughout the day. The design encourages slow movement and quiet observation, allowing daily life to unfold in direct relationship with natural sound, light, and climate.
Project Duration and Location: The project is located in Mitsuse, Saga Prefecture, Japan, within a mountainous river valley in northern Kyushu. Design development and construction were carried out as a comprehensive renovation process, with the project completed in 2025 following an extended period of site analysis, design coordination, and on-site craftsmanship.
Specifications: Renovation of an existing traditional Japanese timber residence located in Mitsuse, Saga Prefecture, Japan. The project preserves the original wooden structural frame while introducing new timber openings, shoji-lined windows, and expanded terraces. Materials include local cedar columns, knot-free hinoki flooring, reed ceilings, and granite paving. Passive environmental strategies include cross-ventilation, deep eaves, and interior–exterior continuity to moderate seasonal climate conditions.
Keywords: Architectural renovation, Residential architecture, Adaptive reuse, Japanese architecture, Engawa reinterpretation, Landscape-integrated design, Climate-responsive architecture, Material authenticity