NEWS RELEASE
2024.04.16
Mitsubishi Jisho Design In-House Award 2023 Winners Announced!
A wide range of new awards to recognize a wide range of services that meet the needs of modern society
Mitsubishi Jisho Design Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Junichi Tanisawa) has selected the winners of its "Internal Awards 2023." This award, held for the 23rd time since the company was founded in 2001, recognizes outstanding projects that further improve planning, design, and technical capabilities and contribute to the company's brand.
In addition to the internal judges, the "In-house Awards 2023" welcomed external judges Masahiro Harada (Professor at Shibaura Institute of Technology, Co-founder of MOUNT FUJI ARCHITECTS STUDIO) and Takashi Kurabuchi (Professor at Tokyo University of Science, Vice President, and Chairman of the Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning and Sanitary Engineers of Japan), who presented awards in nine categories, including six Best Work Awards (two Grand Work Awards, two Excellent Work Awards, and two Best Work Awards), two Environmental/Technical Awards (one Best Environmental/Technical Award and one Excellent Environmental/Technical Award), and new awards established in response to the expansion of our business scope.
[Purpose of each award]
Best Picture:
From the perspective of the results of collaboration among various professional skills, the awards are given based on a comprehensive evaluation of each professional skill, including planning ability, creativity, design ability, Structural Engineering, MEP Engineering, Cost Management, and Construction Supervision, as well as the degree of contribution to society through Landscape and environmental symbiosis.
Environment/Technology Award:
The award recognizes architecture, facilities (or a combination of these), urban environments such as parks and green spaces, townscapes, and other proactive efforts to contribute to the global environment, advanced efforts in business continuity plans (BCP) for the time of disasters, preservation techniques, renewal techniques, technical publications, and elemental engineering technologies, systems, and papers that have been compiled based on ideas originally conceived by our company.
Consulting Award:
In the context of the current social climate, the importance of consulting work is increasing, and this award recognizes outstanding technology and proposals that have contributed to business improvements leading to project completion or that have been socially recognized.
Project Management Award:
The award recognizes outstanding management examples that focus not only on the finished product but also on the production process, and take a proactive approach to design, technology, and quality.
+EMOTION Award:
This award recognizes not only our company's brand values of "comprehensive design capabilities," "urban insight," and "pursuit of essence and quality," but also particularly outstanding efforts to create new value.
Achievement Award:
This award recognizes outstanding achievements in technologies that have contributed to business improvement and results in consulting work, as well as works selected through competitive proposals.
Competition Proposal Award:
This award recognizes proposals selected through competitive proposal processes that are of social significance and contribute to our company's presence and business performance.
Employee Choice Award:
The awards for the Work Award and the Environmental and Technical Award that pass the first round of judging are decided and presented by employee vote.
Introducing the winning projects
[Best Picture Award] TAMACHI TOWER
TAMACHI TOWER stands at a historically and geographically significant point in front of a central Tokyo station. Its multi-layered exterior offers a glimpse of the creative and inspiring aspects of communication, including the semi-outdoor "Winter Garden." These measures aim to enhance the appeal of the workplace and the well-being of the people working there. The tower also takes sustainability into consideration with passive mechanisms such as solar shading with facade fins and natural ventilation, and pursues a "next-generation office standard" from various perspectives. The comprehensive design, including the three-dimensional construction of an outdoor plaza and the strengthening of community contribution functions, will improve the functionality of the entire block and contribute to the development of the local community.
The proposal was evaluated as having created a new type of tenant office building and workplace for the future, by overcoming the complex given conditions through the comprehensive strength of combining structure and facilities, and by incorporating semi-outdoor space functions and natural ventilation.
[Best Picture Award]
3rd MINAMI AOYAMA
This tenant office building stands on the border between the commercial district facing Aoyama-dori, Tokyo's most famous thoroughfare, and the residential area that spreads out behind it. By creating alleys and pocket parks within the site to draw people in from the main street, we aimed to create a building that would act as "urban development" that would bring a high level of mobility to this two-sided area. The outer and inner balconies that characterize facade and other spaces that can be used in a variety of ways make diverse working possible, creating a workplace that enhances employee interaction and engagement.
The project was praised for not only solving the business conditions but also constructing a worldview from the designer's perspective, creating a structure that transcends the logic of conventional office building design, thereby creating a place for the local community where a variety of people can stay and move around.
[Excellent Work Award, Employee Choice Award] MUFG PARK (Library & Landscape)
Landscape
This project opened to the public bank-owned land, which has been preserved for over 70 years and still has a rich forest of trees. Based on a site survey, we planned facilities and paths that would not affect the trees, and worked to preserve the environment by allowing all rainwater to seep into the ground, taking into consideration the return of groundwater and the promotion of plant growth. By providing a variety of functions closely related to the lives of local residents, including a walkway around the perimeter of the site, we aimed to create a place where people can feel close to this precious nature and enjoy it together.
Library
We designed a library within MUFG PARK, comprised of books donated by local residents, as a facility to encourage interaction among people. Its construction, a 4m-high, approximately 40m-long "forest bookshelf," visualizes the deepening of community through books as a collection of books, and is covered with a large roof. The roof, which creates a veranda space for people to relax, also blocks sunlight as an environmental consideration, achieving Zeb Ready certification. As a "library nurtured by everyone," it currently hosts a variety of events organized by the local community. An inseparable relationship has been forged between Landscape, which emphasizes environmental conservation and relationships with the community, and the library, which, despite being a small building, exhibits a sophisticated fusion of design, structure, and facilities through its refined details and conceptual expression. This project was highly praised for its perfect expression of our company's role as a "comprehensive design firm."
[Excellent Work Award] [Presenter Award] THE BANK OF FUKUOKA Minami-Kokura Branch
This reconstruction project required an environmentally friendly bank branch. The building's "layered" floor plan features non-air-conditioned and back rooms located on the perimeter, where the outside heat load is high. Passive approaches, such as deep carved openings to prevent direct sunlight from penetrating the interior of the building, reduced the building's environmental impact and earned it Nearly ZEB certification. While steel construction has become the norm in recent years, the use of reinforced concrete (with earthquake-resistant elements on the perimeter) integrated design and structure, and the interior introduced "MI Deck," a formwork and facade material manufactured by MEC Industry. Responding to society's demand for more wood, the plan creates a warm and open space while avoiding the risk of rising steel prices and construction delays. The reinforced concrete framework is finished with an exterior that creates a simple yet bold appearance that adds character to the streetscape.
Given the many constraints of the site, surrounding environment, and building type, the project was recognized for its ability to achieve a sophisticated fusion of architectural expression and environmental consideration through an approach that goes beyond "design thinking" while keeping costs down, and for the way it was elevated to a work of art with the client's understanding.
[Best Picture Award] Shinryo Innovation Hub
This is a new facility by Shinryo Corporation, with the theme of stimulating people's "ability to feel" and allowing them to choose "FeELD (Feel + Field)" where they work. We propose "ABW + e (environment)" which adds lighting and air conditioning to the ABW (Activity Based Working / work style where you choose the place depending on the work). You can find a place to be from a variety of "places" where various environments are connected in a gradational fashion.
In pursuit of becoming a "Smart Wellness Lab," the building received the highest evaluation in each aspect, with a "ZEB" rating for energy efficiency and an S-rank rating for CASBEE Wellness Office in terms of comfort. The building was recognized for its efforts to go beyond the typical solution for environmentally friendly facilities and improve comfort by realizing large openings through solar shading with a grand roof and providing semi-outdoor spaces, as well as for its "full BIM" project up to the construction stage, and for its high level of completion through new endeavors.
[Best Film] The Grand Outlet - East Jakarta
This was a design project for an outlet mall in Indonesia, a country experiencing rapid economic development. We combined the strengths of our company, which has extensive experience designing outlet malls across Japan, and our local subsidiary Mitsubishi Jisho Design Asia (MJDA), which has operational know-how in Southeast Asia, to undertake a series of initiatives from the upstream of the project to post-construction support. Despite the harsh tropical climate, environmental simulation and computational design enabled us to create a comfortable semi-outdoor commercial space, featuring a glass roof that creates an appearance of sunlight filtering through the trees. Through collaboration between domestic and local partners, we were able to create a high-quality design based on the concept of "Shopping in Nature."
Not only did it export design knowledge, but it also demonstrated a highly effective solution that had not been seen locally - "effective use of semi-outdoor space." It was evaluated as a project that is expected to be developed in the region in the future.
[Best Environment/Technology Award]
NEW task and ambient air-conditioning system: Beyond "ZEB"
The newly developed "NEW task and ambient air-conditioning system" creates a localized air-conditioning environment by combining floor radiant air conditioning, which minimizes temperature variations, with underfloor air conditioning, which blows heated air under the floor based on people's location information obtained by sensors. This air conditioning control, which takes into account the changing seasons and transitions in people's activities and incorporates the concept of time, contributed to the Shinryo Innovation Hub (Best Work Award) obtaining ZEB certification. However, to see ZEB as a milestone and achieve carbon neutrality (CN), which is the next step, it is also necessary to overcome various challenges, such as reducing CO2 emissions generated during construction. This technology contributes to achieving this goal by both pursuing comfort and achieving it.
This "never before seen" system combines conventional methods with a reversible fan and digital control, and while it is a small-scale initiative, it has a significant effect on energy savings throughout the building.
The project was highly praised for its concept that delves into the nature of embodied carbon, with the aim of achieving CN.
[Excellent Environment/Technology Award]
A new, highly efficient core rod vibration control system applied to a super high-rise office building (TAMACHI TOWER)
This is a new seismic control system that was developed and patented for installation in TAMACHI TOWER (Grand Prize winner). The building core (core rod) in the lower floors is made of multi-story SRC earthquake-resistant walls, and the structure is separated from the surrounding steel frame except for the upper part. The lower part of the core rod is supported by sliding bearings, so during an earthquake the surrounding frame deforms flexibly, while the core rod itself remains rigid and slides sideways. Because the upper part is connected, the difference in deformation between the core rod and the surrounding frame is maximized underground, so by concentrating dampers here, it is possible to ensure the same earthquake resistance performance while using only about one-eighth the number of dampers as in the past (distributed throughout the building).
Reducing the number of dampers increases the effective office area, and the core rods of the SRC structure reduce the amount of steel used, reducing construction costs and CO2 emissions during construction.
This new, inexpensive and versatile method for seismic isolation of high-rise office buildings, which has traditionally been considered difficult, was recognized as the result of our accumulated technical expertise, which has been built up over many years of experience in designing this type of building.
[Presenter's Award] Tsuji Culinary Institute Tokyo
This culinary school is located on the border between a residential area and a university campus. In order to blend in with the surrounding environment of the site and the surrounding greenery within the building, the historic row of cherry trees was preserved and the exterior design echoed this, while the interior has been designed to create a space where nature can be felt no matter where you are, with clever use of the building's segmentation and openings. The interior of the building has been designed to eliminate boundaries created by doors and walls as much as possible, creating an open space where faculty and students, and students themselves, can exchange opinions and inspire each other at any time. In the practical rooms, which are reminiscent of restaurant kitchens and confectionery workshops, students can learn while imagining their future workplaces.
The project was evaluated for its aim to create an educational space that would foster a broad perspective on society as well as a place for technical training. It also showed a perspective on how to interact with the local community through the planning of the school facilities, and for achieving both comfort and energy efficiency through the efficient zoning of the kitchen and classroom areas.
[Consulting Award]
"Value-adding life cycle commercial" project that reflects the desire to be closely involved with the local community
This project aimed to increase the value of assets owned by The Johnan Shinkin Bank (a financial branch and employee dormitory) that were over 40 years old, in a sustainable way. The building's use and specifications were restructured (the surplus space in the financial branch was converted into a cafe, and the employee dormitory was converted into a shared house/office, etc.), bringing vitality to the local area. In addition, in response to the bank's strong desire to value local businesses, we supported the creation of a system that included local businesses and the realization of operational efficiency improvements for those involved in the construction work.
This management, which aims to raise the value of a building throughout its entire life cycle, is expected to be rolled out to a variety of projects depending on the building's use, scale, degree of deterioration, etc.
[Project Management Award]
(Tentative name) Kyoto-Joyo Premium Outlets® Infrastructure Development Works Architectural Design and Construction Supervision
Together with the client, he worked hard to coordinate the land readjustment project, including dealing with landowners, and obtained development permits while overcoming numerous challenges in the land use plan, such as the relocation of high-voltage transmission lines within the planned site. As Construction Supervision, he also tenaciously dealt with various difficulties during construction, such as dealing with neighboring residents and coordinating with surrounding road construction.
Throughout the long-term planning process, all members worked together to implement project management that prioritized improving customer satisfaction, and led the infrastructure development work, which involved large-scale land development and the construction of public facilities, to completion.
(Drawing: Mitsubishi Jisho Design)
[Project Management Award] (Tentative name) Toyama Hotel Planning Commercial
This was a hotel construction project in front of Toyama Station. This was the client's first time entrusting the management of a foreign-owned hotel, and we selected the hotel brand with the cooperation of Mitsubishi Estate. We also carried out a series of management tasks, from volume checks to concept design, budget formulation, selection of design/construction contractors and various consultants, as well as CM work at each stage and adjustment of costs and schedules.
A team with extensive hotel design experience provided detailed support to the design and construction team, and the DoubleTree by Hilton Toyama opened in January 2023. The project was highly praised by both the client and the hotel.
[Project Management Award] MORITA HOLDINGS CORPORATION New Base Development Project
The Morita ATI (Advanced Technical Innovation) Center is a new research and development base for a company that manufactures and sells fire engines and disaster prevention related products. The aim was for the building to be a core building that would create and promote diverse innovation through industry-government-academia collaboration. In creating a base consisting of one of Japan's largest comprehensive testing facilities, a tower building used to demonstrate new technologies in firefighting and rescue activities, and a laboratory building with a co-creation space, we worked with researchers to come up with a "place that will support the expansion of research and development." This project is imbued with the desire of all involved parties to create a safe and secure society, fully demonstrating management capabilities in the face of social conditions such as the recent rise in construction costs.
[+EMOTION Award]
SMS: Seamless Mobility System Proposing a new form of mobility that connects cities, buildings and people
In the midst of the demand for smart cities and new mobility proposals with an eye to the future, our company proposes the "SMS: Seamless Mobility System". This is a system that aims to fill the "gaps" that arise when moving through urban spaces, allowing everyone to experience urban spaces more freely and in a three-dimensional way. The booklet, which summarizes the ideas "from a design office" to realize seamless movement through various types of mobility and realize a new social infrastructure that dissolves the boundaries between cities, buildings, and people, has received a great response from within the industry and other sectors. In addition to registering the design of some models and creating actual prototypes, we aim to further advance and develop our proposals by addressing social issues not only in cities but also in local areas.
[+EMOTION Award]
4D Marunouchi Experience the Maru Building of three generations in the Metaverse
Since our founding in 1890, our company has preserved old drawings and photographs for over 130 years. We developed "4D Marunouchi," which allows visitors to experience the historic architecture and cityscape that remain here in the metaverse. The experience spans three generations of Marunouchi buildings, from before and after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 to their current appearance after reconstruction in 2002, and takes visitors on a time-traveling tour. The "Open Archive," easily accessible to anyone through the online game "Fortnite," not only preserves the materials but also widely communicates the city's evolution and appeal. Through the development of digital twins and user interaction, this project looks toward a future where the real and digital worlds overlap.
[+EMOTION Award] Veneti-An Tea House / Arabi-An Tea House teahouses made from food waste from around the world
This is a series of teahouses that will be the first in the world to use food waste as a structure, and will be presented at the Venice Biennale and Dubai Design Week in 2023. As a common mechanism for global deployment, a form-generating algorithm has been developed to create comfortable spaces by manipulating sunlight based on the latitude of each region. At the same time, building materials are refined from local food waste (not mixed with resins, etc.), and the pavilion is "returned to the earth" with naturally derived waterproofing materials. The series of building materials made from small pieces of wood fit into a suitcase, and CO2 emissions during transportation are reduced through self-transport and self-construction. This is an approach to "global and local" and "resource circularity."
[+EMOTION Award] Comprehensive design support for the establishment of Mitsubishi Estate Southeast Asian base
Mitsubishi Jisho Design Asia (MJDA), which has worked on Interior Design for each of Mitsubishi Estate 's locations in Southeast Asia. MJDA has added Mitsubishi Estate Thailand (in Bangkok) to its series of offices that embody Japanese quality in space under the theme of "fusion of Japanese and local culture. post-COVID is the local way of working and Mitsubishi Estate serves as a showroom for "One City Centre," Thailand's tallest building. In addition to Interior Design responding to the office image, MJDA provided comprehensive support by leveraging its accumulated know-how in the region, including selection of contractors and cost and site coordination. Mitsubishi Estate Group This project demonstrated the overseas expansion and high competitiveness of
[Achievement Award]
(Tentative name) architectural design and construction supervision of new construction of hotel building on former transportation bureau site (Sheraton Kagoshima) *As part of a series of achievements
Kirameki Terrace is a mixed-use redevelopment project that has been underway on the former site of the Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau. In this development, our company has been responsible for architectural design and construction supervision of Kirameki Nankoku Parking, Kirameki Energy Center, Kirameki Terrace Healthcare Hospital, Imakiire General Hospital (2020), and Kirameki Nankoku Building (2023).
A hotel building also designed by our company will be completed, and the prefecture's first foreign-owned city hotel, "Sheraton Kagoshima," will open in time for its full opening in May 2023. "Kirameki Terrace," which is linked to medical facilities and implements energy management by consolidating heat sources, has attracted attention as a pioneer of compact cities, and the hotel functions are expected to contribute to the development of the local tourism industry and job creation.
[Achievement Award]
Winner of the 2023 Energy Conservation Award, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award - Takasago Thermal Engineering Innovation Center
The Takasago Thermal Science Innovation Center (Tsukubamirai City, Ibaraki Prefecture) is a project that utilizes our company's high level of expertise in environmental design. Since its completion, the facility has won numerous environmental awards both in Japan and overseas as it pursues user comfort while leading the way in carbon neutrality by making maximum use of renewable energy, including groundwater, solar power generation, biomass generators, and large-capacity storage batteries. In January 2024, it received its first Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award (Business Category), Grand Prize in Energy Conservation Award. These awards, related paper publications, magazine articles, etc. showcase our company's high level of technological expertise and collaboration capabilities.
[Other projects nominated for in-house awards]
ENEOS Multi-Mobility Station
This project aims to expand micromobility sharing services. As a response to the super-aging society, micromobility supports short distance travel, and in anticipation of the shift to a carbon-free society, electrification of micromobility is also important. As a facility that serves as a showcase for the penetration of new technologies that will change society, it was designed with the aim of becoming a core for local communication with an open structure. CO2 fixation is also achieved by utilizing timber (CLT). As with the electrification of mobility, the facility itself appeals to efforts to address social issues. This is a project that has the potential to be developed for future energy policies.
NAKAMICHI ATSUSHI
Showabond Construction North Japan Branch
This project involved architectural design and construction supervision and project management (PM) efforts aimed at creating an environment that would realize the company's new workstyle. The offices, which are spread around the atrium that runs through the center of the building, are dotted with tactile interior materials such as wood and tiles, promoting employee interaction through a sense of openness. Passive energy-saving methods that take advantage of the building's orientation and equipment installation plans were implemented throughout the building. A combination of highly versatile technologies and a high level of comfort resulted in the achievement of ZEB certification. This is a model project for an environmentally friendly medium-sized office, which was completed within a limited time frame after PM placed emphasis on risk management of social conditions and cost fluctuations during the construction period.
Expansion of Osaka Station area district heating and cooling facilities and introduction of HEAT DX
district heating and cooling is attracting attention as we move towards a decarbonized society. Together with Osaka Energy Services, we have pursued the design, optimal operation, and maintenance of district heating and cooling facility (DHC) in the Osaka Station area, which boasts the highest level of efficiency. Today, to further expand this, we are working to resolve the various social issues surrounding DHC (such as the pursuit of energy conservation and a shortage of engineers) by using AI to support operations and digitalize maintenance management.
We have begun a demonstration experiment of "HEAT DX" which systematizes this series of efforts. Through future service development, we aim to contribute to society from both an environmental and economic perspective. This proposal aims to provide a demand response service with an eye on the future priority issue of "introducing electricity from renewable energy sources into large-scale power transmission networks."
Second Plant
Contact for inquiries regarding this matter
Mitsubishi Jisho Design Inc. Public Relations Office
TEL 03-3287-5001