Silver A' Design Award Winner 2025
Warm honey-toned cedar planking dominates the ceiling plane of Uds Ltd.'s Terrasta Hotel, establishing an immediate material dialogue between architectural enclosure and the living garden that erupts through its center, where a precisely framed rectangular skylight opens a geometric portal to soft diffused daylight that washes downward onto slender deciduous saplings rising from an artfully composed rockery of weathered limestone, coral fragments, and river-smoothed cobblestones arranged in naturalistic asymmetry upon a bed of crushed grey gravel that reads as a contemporary interpretation of traditional dry landscape garden principles, while the compositional architecture operates through a masterful central axis that draws the eye vertically from stone to foliage to sky, balanced laterally by the rectilinear geometry of floor-to-ceiling glass panels at left revealing a bathroom space with rainfall showerhead, and at right a sitting area furnished with a dove-grey upholstered sofa and pale oak cabinetry housing a work surface beneath clerestory windows admitting secondary illumination, the chromatic palette working within an analogous harmony of warm wood tones spanning raw sienna through burnt umber in the ceiling, cool mineral greys in the stone floor tiles and gravel substrate, verdant yellow-greens and deeper viridian in the emergent foliage, and neutral taupe in the textile furnishings, the luminosity paradigm presenting zenithal natural light filtered through atmospheric haze creating soft-edged shadows beneath the vegetation while peripheral daylight enters horizontally through the flanking glazing to model the spatial volume, textural contrasts achieving remarkable orchestration between the linear grain of the wood cladding, the irregular porosity of the coral and limestone, the granular aggregate of the gravel field, the smooth polished concrete of flooring, and the soft hand of upholstery fabric, edge behaviors transitioning crisply where architectural materials meet yet softening where organic forms emerge against built surfaces, the spatial construction employing one-point perspective with the vanishing point located within the distant interior zone visible through the garden, creating depth recession while the central garden mass anchors the middle ground, stylistic coordinates suggesting contemporary biophilic design philosophy merged with East Asian spatial traditions of borrowed landscape and interior courtyard typologies, the atmospheric resonance conveying profound tranquility and meditative stillness where architecture cradles nature in reciprocal embrace.
Terrasta is a mixed-use hotel located in the heart of Miyakonojo City, designed to revitalize the area as a new community hub. The name blends terrace and stage symbolizing communal space and support for individual lives. Emphasizing sustainability, the design incorporates local materials and collaborations with businesses and artisans. By blending modern comfort with traditional craftsmanship, Terrasta transcends the traditional hotel concept, becoming a vibrant hub for creativity, community, and commerce, celebrating both the past and future of Miyakonojo.