Press Release
eeGee Stay: Reviving the Local Economy Local Capsule Hotel by Hajime Tsuruta Wins the Bronze A' Design Award in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
Hajime Tsuruta acknowledged for interior space and exhibition design by the international grand jury of the 2019 - 2020 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 22, 2020 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that eeGee Stay: Reviving the Local Economy Local Capsule Hotel by Hajime Tsuruta, designed for NRC architecture & design office, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design category. The result belongs to the 2019 - 2020 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined 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.
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.
More About eeGee Stay: Reviving the Local Economy Local Capsule Hotel
eeGee Stay is a capsule hotel created inside a vacant building in a shopping arcade in Saitama, Japan. Vacant old buildings and the economic decline of local shopping arcades are social problems in Japan, and the renovation approach responds to both. Reuse of the existing structure saves resources and cost, and lower room prices follow. Sleeping cabins are built from oriented strand board panels, with 152 cabins for women and 154 for men. Wood and greenery give the interior a forest-like character. No restaurant or laundry is included, so guests use nearby local shops.
About Hajime Tsuruta
Hajime Tsuruta is the founder of NRC Architecture and Design Firm. He has won over 10 design awards in Japan, Korea, and the USA. Hajime is deeply invested in addressing socioeconomic issues through his designs, which highlight his key values of sustainability and social responsibility.
Award Record
With this recognition, Hajime Tsuruta 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/92518
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/92518
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!92518
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/258095
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.nrcgroup.co.jp/
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
- eeGee Stay: Reviving the Local Economy Local Capsule Hotel
- Function
- Local Capsule Hotel
- Category
- Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Sienna, Saddle Brown, Dark Slate Gray, Black and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- NRC architecture & design office
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Hajime Tsuruta
- Country
- Japan
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2019 - 2020
- Design ID
- #92518
Credits
- Team
- Reiko Ogawa
- Image Credits
- Non
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- In Japan both old buildings standing vacant and the economic decline of local shopping arcades have become major social problems. This capsule hotel was designed to address both issues while embracing sustainable, socially responsible design principles. Rather than building from the ground up, the hotel was constructed in an existing vacant building in order to better utilize resources. Utilizing an extant building also ensured that the exterior design of the hotel would fit in with the surrounding businesses. Furthermore, renovating extant buildings is a more cost-effective strategy than constructing a new building.
- Inspiration
- After World War II, shopping arcades were the main retail hubs in Japan. However, due to recent redevelopment and modernization in Japanese cities, huge suburban shopping malls have been drawing consumers away from the arcades, causing these old-fashioned shops to suffer. Many shops have already closed, and more are just waiting to shut down. Sometimes people call these shopping arcades "shutter streets" even though there are still many charming stores left behind. The driving motivation behind this renovation project was to attract new customers to a local shopping arcade, boosting the local economy.
- Research
- After researching other hotels to determine what features were considered most desirable by consumers, designers scouted shopping arcades on foot to find their location. The design team settled on the Ichiban-gai shopping arcade near Oomiya station. The team met with the local business bureau and managers of Ichiban-gai shops to discuss their plans. This allowed the designers to determine which businesses within Ichiban-gai would best supplement the hotel's lack of built-in amenities.
- Challenge
- A major challenge during the design process was designing and assembling the offset sleeping cabins. Cabins in higher and lower positions alternate along the walls of the hotel, and the interior shape features a step which creates an irregular ceiling in lower cabins. The cabins were originally manufactured in an offsite laboratory, requiring designers to be particularly precise in their measurements. When the cabins were assembled at the renovation site, a measurement error was discovered. The horizontal measurements of the cabins were slightly too large, and they did not fit into the existing building.
- Realization and Technology
- OSB boards were assembled to form the wooden box to sleep and made 154 boxes for women, 152 boxes for men.
- Operation and Interaction
- Although capsule hotels are popular in Japan, most designs rely heavily on plastics. These artificial facades can be unwelcoming to the customer. The organic appearance of our urban forest offers a more relaxing alternative: an oasis within the city where customers can rest. The sleeping cabins emphasize ergonomic design. Designers collaborated with a manufacturer to create a proprietary hotel mattress to support sleepers' posture. Cabin ladders are also designed to minimize strain on the body.
- Project Duration and Location
- This wooden cabin hotel has opened on May.10th, 2019 in Saitama, Japan.
- Specifications
- construction classification:Building conversion&renovation/Total floor space:1,942 square meters/First floor:Women's cabin 152 wooden cabins,Second floor:Men's cabins 154 wooden cabins
- Keywords
- nature, hotel, cabin, renovation, wooden
