Press Release
Nobuaki Miyashita Is Honored with the Silver A' Design Award for Embraced in Recycled Steel Office in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
Nobuaki Miyashita of Mr Studio acknowledged for interior space and exhibition design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 21, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design category for Embraced in Recycled Steel Office by Nobuaki Miyashita of Mr Studio, designed for Kyoei Steel Ltd.. The result belongs to the 2024 - 2025 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.
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.
More About Embraced in Recycled Steel Office
Embraced in Recycled Steel is an office interior built with recycled steel supplied by Kyoei Steel. Angle steel, rebars, and flat bars are left exposed to emphasize material strength and texture. Structural elements that are usually concealed become aesthetic focal points. Barcode and QR code motifs extend across wall finishes and stair railings, linking the space to the company identity. Steel ceiling louvers hold seamless linear LED lighting that highlights the motifs. The interior shows the potential of repurposed materials in a contemporary workplace.
About Mr Studio
An architectural firm based in Japan that designs various types of buildings, including residential homes, commercial facilities, hotels, offices, factories, and schools.
Award Record
This recognition makes Nobuaki Miyashita of Mr Studio a winner of 7 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2023 - 2024 and the 2024 - 2025 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.
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. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to interior designers, interior architects, architects and decorators from all countries. Typical entries include residential interiors, restaurants, hotels, offices, galleries and retail stores. The awarded interior designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/interior
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/171450
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/171450
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!171450
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/353711
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.mrstudio.biz
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
###
Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Embraced in Recycled Steel Office
- Function
- Office
- Category
- Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Dark Slate Gray, Black, Dim Gray, Gray and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Kyoei Steel Ltd.
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Nobuaki Miyashita
- Country
- Japan
- Brand
- Mr Studio
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #171450
Credits
- Image Credits
- Image #1,#2 : Photographer Nobuaki Miyashita Variations, 2024 Image #3,#4,#5 : Photographer Sato Kenta, Variations, 2024.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This office interior transforms Kyoei Steel’s recycled steel—angle steel, rebars, and flat bars—into a refined architectural expression. Typically hidden elements become aesthetic highlights, emphasizing material strength and texture. Barcode and QR code motifs extend across the space, visually linking to Kyoei Steel’s corporate identity. Lighting enhances these patterns, creating a dynamic interplay between recycled steel, technology, and light.
- Inspiration
- The design embodies the lifecycle of steel recycling while visually integrating Kyoei Steel’s digital identity. Barcode and QR code patterns, inspired by the company’s website, appear throughout the space, symbolizing the transformation of raw materials into structured design. By exposing and celebrating recycled steel, the project creates a unique spatial narrative, merging industrial heritage with a contemporary digital aesthetic.
- Research
- Type of Research: Applied Design Research Objective: To explore the aesthetic and functional integration of recycled steel in office interiors. Methodology: Material experimentation, spatial simulations, and lighting analysis. Data Collection: Prototype testing and digital modeling. Participants: Architects, engineers, and Kyoei Steel stakeholders. Results & Insights: The research highlighted the potential of exposed steel as a design element, demonstrating its structural beauty and reinforcing corporate identity. The study advanced sustainable interior design, influencing material reuse practices in industrial architecture.
- Challenge
- The primary challenge was redefining recycled steel’s role in architecture beyond its conventional industrial use. Integrating angle steel, rebars, and flat bars as visible elements required precise detailing and innovative finishing techniques. Additionally, balancing material authenticity with a refined aesthetic posed a design challenge. Regulatory constraints, production limitations, and ensuring harmony between raw steel textures and digital motifs, such as barcode patterns, demanded extensive prototyping and iterative design development.
- Realization and Technology
- The office interior features angle steel, rebars, and flat bars as exposed materials, emphasizing their structural and aesthetic qualities. Barcode motifs, derived from Kyoei Steel’s website, are embedded in wall finishes and stair railings, linking physical space to digital branding. The ceiling’s steel louvers incorporate billet-shaped seamless LED lighting, reinforcing a cohesive design language that blends recycled materials with innovative illumination.
- Operation and Interaction
- The office interior integrates barcode and QR code motifs, linking the space to Kyoei Steel’s corporate identity. These patterns, expressed in wall treatments and stairwell designs, create an interactive experience, guiding movement through the space. The ceiling’s steel louvers diffuse light while reinforcing the visual continuity of barcode-inspired elements. This design transforms an industrial material narrative into a contemporary, high-tech environment.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project commenced in early 2022 in Yamaguchi, Japan, with design and planning phases focused on integrating Kyoei Steel’s identity into the architecture. Construction began in mid-2023, aiming to unify office functions while enhancing operational efficiency and employee engagement. The office was completed in early 2024, creating a sustainable workspace that embodies the company’s commitment to steel recycling and innovation.
- Specifications
- Site Area: 108,045.44 Square meters Building Area: 1,091.12 Square meters Total Floor Area: 3,931.89 Square meters Structure: RC Number of Floors: 4 above ground Maximum Height: 19.9 m Eaves Height: 16.5 m Floor Height: 3.9 m Ceiling Height: 2.9 m
- Keywords
- architecture, office, lighting design, recycled steel, sustainable design
