Press Release
Satoshi Fujinaka Receives the Bronze A' Design Award for Crossing Walls House and Office in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
The international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Satoshi Fujinaka for architecture, building and structure design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 18, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Crossing Walls House and Office by Satoshi Fujinaka, designed for Daijiro Yoshihara, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category. 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 assessed 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.
About Crossing Walls House and Office
Crossing Walls is a building that combines an office on the lower floor with a home on the upper floor. Three L shaped walls separate and intertwine, and a cube form is broken apart to create open and closed spaces. The walls hold a moderate relationship with the surroundings, letting light and air enter while privacy is kept. Window positions are planned to control sunlight, heat load and outside views. A void open to the sky links the interior with the exterior. The structure follows conventional Japanese wooden construction on a 910 millimeter grid, which saves material and is left exposed.
About Satoshi Fujinaka
In thinking about architecture, I always consider the relationship between "architecture", "nature", and "people". People are light, wind, sky, water, trees ・・・・ somewhat unconsciously,I believe that we feel richness in our relationship with nature. For example, a view of the ocean or a river stretching out before us,The sunlight spilling through the trees in a forest,Or the bright blue sky and clouds when you look up at the sky, People unconsciously feel healed, reassured, and happy, We have tried to fuse such a relationship between people and nature with architecture,The architecture is designed to allow people to feel the presence of nature, which is always close at hand, with all of...
Award Record
Satoshi Fujinaka is a winner of 2 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards span the editions from 2023 - 2024 to 2025 - 2026 of the A' Design Award & Competition.
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/174571
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/174571
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!174571
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/345674
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://switch-architects.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
- Crossing Walls House and Office
- Function
- House and Office
- Category
- Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture
- Colors
- Cornflower Blue, Sky Blue, Light Gray, Light Slate Gray and Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Daijiro Yoshihara
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Satoshi Fujinaka
- Country
- Japan
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #174571
Credits
- Image Credits
- Photo , Kenji Masunaga
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- We will try to solve the problem by manipulating the wall so that the office on the first floor and the life on the second floor, communication and privacy, can be compatible with each other. The cube is disassembled and the three L shaped walls separate and intertwine with each other. These three L shaped walls manipulate the open and closed spaces and maintain a moderate relationship with their surroundings. Light and wind enter the building and begin to vaguely connect it to the outside.
- Inspiration
- The planned site is a borderline location where new places and old places mix. By opening the walls to the outside, the office tried to create appropriate and diverse relationships to maintain the community and revitalize the city. The living space blends with the exterior space through the gaps in the walls while ensuring privacy and bringing light into the interior. And by creating a void to the sky, the entire building breathes and releases its spirit to the sky.
- Research
- The research for this project is divided into two themes. The first is a study of how to maximize the natural environment and required space on a limited site area. The second is to consider total cost management and cost management of each material within a limited budget. How to solve these two themes in architecture is both an interesting and difficult challenge.
- Challenge
- While keeping the space needed by the client within a limited area and budget, While considering the position of sunlight and adjusting the position of windows to control the heat load, The window arrangement is planned to control the external line of sight and to create an ambiguous connection with the outside.
- Realization and Technology
- The building uses a standard Japanese wooden structure with a span of 910 mm. Most building materials in Japan follow this module, resulting in significant material and energy savings. The wooden structure is shown in a cosmetic manner to pursue beauty and rationality.
- Operation and Interaction
- This building was planned as a boundary between the newly developed environment in the newly rezoned area and the old shopping area, where the old and the new mix. The project was planned to solve the problem of how to realize an architecture that allows people to feel close to nature while ensuring privacy, while reducing the environmental burden caused by recent climate change and improving the comfort performance of the building itself in such a location.
- Project Duration and Location
- Design began in Hiroshima in 2022 and construction was completed in December 2024.
- Specifications
- wooden Site area 176.34㎡ Total Floor area 138.37㎡ The wooden portion of the building was constructed with a 910mm x 910mm grid of pillar and beam pitches using Japanese conventional construction methods, which made the structural plan easy to understand, and also made cost and construction management easier to understand.
- Keywords
- House , Oficce , Japan , Walls , Wood
