Press Release
Silver A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design Goes to Nippo Junction Head Office by Takahiro Ichimaru and Tetsuya Tatenami
The international grand jury of the 2019 - 2020 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Takahiro Ichimaru and Tetsuya Tatenami for architecture, building and structure design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 22, 2020 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category for Nippo Junction Head Office by Takahiro Ichimaru and Tetsuya Tatenami, designed for Nippo Corporation. The award was conferred within the 2019 - 2020 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 assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the Silver A' Design Award Means
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
Regarding Nippo Junction Head Office
Nippo Head Office is built over a multilayered intersection of urban infrastructure, a traffic artery, an expressway, and a park. Nippo is a leading company in road construction. They define "Michi", which means "street" in Japanese, as the basis of their design concept as "what connects a variety of components". Michi connects the building with the urban context and also connect individual workspaces with each other. Michi was enhanced to forge "creative connections" and to realize the "Junction Place", a unique workplace possible only here at Nippo.
About Takahiro Ichimaru and Tetsuya Tatenami
The unrelenting pursuit of technological excellence, the close teamwork between diverse individuals, and the resulting collective strength of the Nihon Sekkei Group. On this threefold footing, we strive to "link" all whom we contact, people to people, people to spaces and people to the future. We value the past history and cultural associations of each site and will continue to create new and timeless society-friendly values in our architectural and urban designs.
Award Record
This recognition makes Takahiro Ichimaru and Tetsuya Tatenami a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
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. The competition 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. Entries typically include skyscrapers, museums, residential buildings, commercial complexes, educational institutions and religious structures. Awarded architectural projects are published at https://designers.org/design-category/architecture
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/87674
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/87674
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!87674
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/252217
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.nihonsekkei.co.jp/?lang=en
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
- Nippo Junction Head Office
- Function
- Head Office
- Category
- Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture
- Colors
- Dark Slate Gray, Black, Dim Gray, Linen and Slate Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Nippo Corporation
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Takahiro Ichimaru and Tetsuya Tatenami
- Country
- Japan
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2019 - 2020
- Design ID
- #87674
Credits
- Team
- Ichimaru Takahiro, Tatenami Tetsuya and Abe Nobuyuki
- Image Credits
- Photographer:Hiroshi Funaki、Shota Hiyoshi Kawasumi Kobayashi Kenji Photograph Office Co.,Ltd
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This project is rebuilding the Nippo Head Office built over a multilayered intersection of urban infrastructure, an expressway and a park. Nippo is a leading company in road construction. By drawing this multilayered intersection of Michi (street in Japanese) on laminated workplace, Michi connects not only physical spaces, but also the individuality and distinctiveness of each place. Michi was enhanced to forge creative connections and to realize a unique work place possible only here at Nippo.
- Inspiration
- The Michi is also expressed in the NIPPO logo and slogan, which is also the identity of this company. We regard Michi as the connection between various elements, and put Junction into the concept. Specifically, it is an attempt to reorganize the connection between neighboring cities and the connection between work places, which were sparse at the former head office, with the new head office plan. At the same time, it is a plan to re-identify the identity of a company.
- Research
- Japan needs an exterior plan to prepare for typhoons, and very careful consideration was required for setting the wind pressure of the double skin facade. Since this exterior incorporates a stone, by setting the interlayer displacement and construction accuracy at the time of the earthquake carefully, a very delicate exterior is realized.
- Challenge
- The Metropolitan Expressway runs at the foot of the new headquarters. The Metropolitan Expressway is a river before the Tokyo Olympics. Therefore, a revetment retaining wall of the river was left in the site, and it was necessary to construct the basement while leaving it. A seismic isolation structure is adopted so that the headquarters function can be maintained even in the case of a large earthquake.
- Realization and Technology
- The Edge between urban environment ,Facade Double skin glazing on the north-east sides are arranged in a staggered folding fan layout optimized for natural ventilation, reduction of direct sunlight and opening out to vistas, actively engaging prevailing winds and direct sunlight, and minimizing usage of blinds. The cavity between double skin glazing is used for natural ventilation and for reducing wind speed and ambient city noises to provide an open workplace connected to urban elements
- Operation and Interaction
- Columns are placed between Quiet Michi and Ie spaces, defining a soft boundary. Each department or team can set its own relationship with Michi by variating the layout of the Ie zones for column intervals. The columns have inserts that allow a wide variety of boundaries to be set up according to worker needs. such as soft boundaries defined by furniture or partitions between columns and privatizing the Michi for how each space is used is possible
- Project Duration and Location
- Completion: 2018/6 Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo,JAPAN
- Specifications
- Composition of Double-skin Façade on north-west side 1. Fan shaped outer skin - Two-sided support system with frame and SSG System 2. Fan Stone provides support to counter wind forces on both skin layers - A dynamic facade composed from stone mullions and glass panels expresses both the forward looking and reliable company identities 3. Completely flat mullion-less MPG inner skin - enables use of inner spaces directly up to glass panels
- Keywords
- architecture, facade, glass, headquaters, nippo, doubleskin, tokyo, japan
