Press Release
United Cinemas Urawa Cinema complex by Ichiro Katami and Kunihisa Akiyama Is Granted the Bronze A' Design Award in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
Ichiro Katami and Kunihisa Akiyama honored for interior space and exhibition design by the international grand jury of the 2017 - 2018 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 14, 2018 /DesignNewswire/ United Cinemas Urawa Cinema complex by Ichiro Katami and Kunihisa Akiyama, designed for Unite Cinemas Co., Ltd, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The award was conferred within the 2017 - 2018 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 scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Bronze A' Design Award
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.
More About United Cinemas Urawa Cinema complex
The cinema lobby, corridor walls and ceiling painted in white and the carpet is black. A projection room is glazed so customers can see projectors and engineers which actually works there. There is a Projection Museum. The Museum has the 35mm Film Projector, a Xenon Lamp, 35mm films and 70mm films, a Open Reel and Tools. A Cinema Library Cafe is available which has 500 books about movies. These elements stimulate customers' intellectual curiosity and the sophisticated interior space takes on a role of harmonizing them.
About Ichiro Katami and Kunihisa Akiyama
I would like to know that how our design concept will be evaluated in the world, so that is reason why I am interested in A’ Design Award. Our design concept is not only for spatial or material issue but also for relationship or environment of neighborhoods, or region. We strongly thought that this cinema should be there generating brand-new involvement of people, tenants and cinema. If we won a prize whatever, that would be the proof our concept global, not only accepted in Japan.
Award Record
With this recognition, Ichiro Katami and Kunihisa Akiyama is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
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. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to interior designers, interior architects, architects and decorators from all countries. Entries typically include residential interiors, restaurants, hotels, offices, galleries and retail stores. Awarded interior designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/interior
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission 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. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated 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. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates 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, the upload of a work and the 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. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/50058
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/50058
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!50058
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/168432
- Further Information from the Laureate: http://www.unitedcinemas.jp/urawa/index.html
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
- United Cinemas Urawa Cinema complex
- Function
- Cinema complex
- Category
- Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Black, Dark Slate Gray, Dim Gray, Lavender and Navy
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Unite Cinemas Co., Ltd
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Ichiro Katami and Kunihisa Akiyama
- Country
- Japan
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2017 - 2018
- Design ID
- #50058
Credits
- Team
- Ichiro Katami, Naoyuki Suzuki, Yataro Matsuura, Sadahiro Nakamura, Kenichi Miyake and Kunihisa Akiyama
- Image Credits
- Noriyuki Yano/ Nacasa and Partners Inc.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The snow-white lobby like art museum welcomes guests and makes them wonder this place really a cinema because it has white walls, white ceiling, and dark tone floor. Guests can see the glass-in projection room, which becomes 70 meters, so they find how movies are projected and equipment as projectors, films, xenon lamps which is exhibited with instructions, and other tools. We call them the Cinema Museum. There also is the Library Cafe, which contains 1000 books related in movies, is open for every customers and they can get involved in the world of movies with cup of coffee relaxing in cinema chairs.
- Inspiration
- Having the good relationship with the shopping mall which contains City Library was the beginning of this project. People who visit the building are highly sensitive and full of intellectual curiosity. Considering the movies as intellectual content, cinemas can be place satisfies such people as libraries or Museums, not just a place watching movies. Such place must be cozy and comfortable for adults but not like uplifting and exciting that was usual interior design for cinemas.
- Research
- The building has shopping tenants from basement floor to 5th floor, and 6th and 7th floor occupied by the Cinema and above is City Library. In such location, I believed that the Cinema should make relationship among whole building, not a tenant exists on its own, and it is possible. Thus there should be casual space where fashion-conscious customers visiting clothing stores will come, and should have setups that the visitors of the City Library drop in.
- Challenge
- The projection rooms placed in the backyards and guests have no chance to see it usually. However, we rethought such orthodox idea and made them one of the main character of here. To do so, various things had to be changed such as the smoke glass wall and staff operations was not exceptional. For instance, the projection engineers should not be conspicuous generally, but the glassed-room makes them impossible to be unknown. As long as such situation, we put the red clothes on them so they shall be stand out. So, the flexible idea and approach to make everything be harmonized is the hardest part of this project.
- Realization and Technology
- We used high performance Acrylic resin emulsion white paint for antifouling. We used the glass for projection room's long wall. The smoke glass has some shading rate to come over the dilemma that we have to cut the beam from customers, but want to show them the projector.
- Operation and Interaction
- This cinema is designed to connect a formal faculty,the City Library, and fashionable place, Shopping mall. To make Cinema not divided, or isolated from public space, it has no noticeable facade so customers can walk through the lobby and take rest with no movie tickets. Also, people in the Library Cafe can enjoy their reading with a cup of coffee and muffin, that prohibited in usual libraries. The Library is specialized in movies with 1000 books that satisfy people who want to know more about movie.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in 2005 and finished in 2007 in Saitama, JAPAN
- Specifications
- 9 Screens, 7,131 sqm., Total capacity 1665 seats
- Keywords
- Cinema, Cinema Museum, Library Cafe, Movie, Urawa
