Golden A' Design Award Winner 2024
Nobuaki Miyashita's Aida Sekkei Precut Factory presents a striking architectural composition captured during the transitional blue hour when daylight dissolves into twilight, revealing a bold cantilever volume clad in warm timber battens that projects dramatically over a corrugated metal base structure. The compositional armature employs a dynamic diagonal thrust created by the wooden-clad upper volume extending leftward across the frame, its acute triangular profile generating powerful directional energy that leads the eye from the illuminated corner window toward the distant horizon where utility poles punctuate the pastoral landscape. The chromatic palette establishes a sophisticated dialogue between the warm burnt sienna and raw umber tones of the timber cladding, the cool neutral grays of the galvanized corrugated metal below, and the atmospheric gradients of the twilight sky ranging from pale coral at the horizon through lavender and periwinkle to deepening cerulean above. The luminosity conditions are particularly remarkable as interior illumination transforms the recessed corner window into a glowing beacon of warm cream light, creating a lantern effect that activates the building's presence within its rural setting while the ambient crepuscular light gently models the vertical timber striations. Spatial construction operates through clear layered planes establishing foreground asphalt and landscaped beds with young trees, the dominant middle-ground architectural mass, and the expansive background of flat agricultural terrain beneath the vast sky dome. The textural interplay between the rhythmic vertical timber elements, the crisp horizontal ribs of the metal cladding, and the smooth glazed surfaces creates a rich tapestry of optical textures that reward extended contemplation. Edge treatment throughout maintains crisp definition appropriate to contemporary architectural photography, with the building's precise geometric profile silhouetted against the atmospheric sky establishing a clean figure-ground relationship.
Aida Sekkei's new factory plan focuses on wood precutting. Its concept is all about creating an architecture which embodies the series of timber processing. It includes a floating, glass enclosed walkway approximately 100 meters long inside the factory, designed for visitors to closely observe the entire pre-cutting process. The office building features large spaces with trusses made from feather edge materials, commonly used as sub materials in wooden houses. The design integrates all elements to create a showcase factory, emphasizing visibility and aesthetic appeal in every aspect.