Tetsuo Kobori Architects + Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. + Fujita Corporation

Tetsuo Kobori Architects, Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd., and Fujita Corporation proudly announce that they have won the Best of Best in the Institutional Architecture category at Architecture MasterPrize (AMP) 2023, one of the most prestigious international architecture awards in the world.

Exterior View
Photo credit: Tomoyuki Kusunose

The design team aimed to create a place of open exchange and co-creation for 49,000 employees with this project, implemented at the request of Daiwa House Group, which engages in the provision of construction and real estate services. Although the official name of this facility is “Daiwa House Group MIRAI KACHI KYOSO Center ‘Kotokurie’”, the place is better known as “MORI no KAISHO”, which means “Meeting Place of Forest” in Japanese.

Creating a Kaisho of the modern time: A New Meeting Place

The design team started by thinking about the significance of a place for people gather in a rapidly changing and unpredictable society in terms of what it means to gather and learn together. During the design phase, three workshops were held in total with members from across the entire Daiwa House Group to incorporate the opinions and ideas of many people who would be using this facility.

Exterior View
Photo credit: Tomoyuki Kusunose

The Master Livingroom
Photo credit: Tomoyuki Kusunose

Based on keywords that emerged from the workshop sessions, they decided that the concept for this facility would be “MORI no KAISHO,” or a “Meeting Place of Forest”. On the other hand, “kaisho” refers to a place for cultural exchange and communication in the Muromachi period, where people from different social classes would sit in a circle and compose traditional renka and waka poetry. Drawing inspiration from these concepts, the idea arose that it should serve as a modern-day kaisho, where people can gather, inspire and influence each other.

Exterior View
Photo credit: Tomoyuki Kusunose

Exterior View
Photo credit: Koji Yamazaki

Memories of the Land from 1,300 years ago

The site is located in the southern part of Heijyo-kyo, the ancient capital of Japan. Archeological surveys of buried cultural properties prior to construction unearthed the remains of settlements and dwellings from approximately 1,300 years ago. The architects were deeply impressed by the remains of wells, building foundations, and pillars. The landscape confirmed their conviction that the essence of human gathering will never change and that the memories of the land should be passed on to the future.

Remains
Photo credit: Tetsuo Kobori Architects

The Reception Area
Photo credit: Koji Yamazaki

Bird's-eye View
Photo credit: Koji Yamazaki

Harmony of Three Elements: Wind, Sun, and Water

In order to give the building a sense of scale that allows people to feel connected to each other, the 230m-long site was largely segmented into three sections, namely “wind”, "sun", and "water", which constitute the building. The idea echoes the phrase set forth by the founder as his vision for the enterprise in the twenty-first century. Accordingly, the Sun Hall is a space open 360 degrees to allow natural light, with a capacity of 500 people. The Wind Patio is a place for conversation while dining. And the Water Salon is a place to learn about the founder’s philosophy and to reflect on oneself.

The Sun Hall
Photo credit: Tomoyuki Kusunose

The Sun Hall
Photo credit: Tomoyuki Kusunose

The Wind Patio
Photo credit: Tomoyuki Kusunose

The Wind Patio
Photo credit: Tomoyuki Kusunose

The Wind Patio
Photo credit: Koji Yamazaki

The Water Salon
Photo credit: Tomoyuki Kusunose

About Tetsuo Kobori Architects

Tetsuo Kobori, a founder of Tetsuo Kobori Architects, born in 1971 in Gifu. In 1997, he completed his master’s degree in architectural engineering at Hosei University, under Hidenobu Jinnai. After graduation, he joined Kume Sekkei, and founded Tetsuo Kobori Architects in 2008. Tetsuo Kobori places great importance on dialogue with clients and, through a series of workshops, he is always striving for better architecture. He works to create new architecture and places that create a connection between people and the history and natural environment of the place.

About Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.

The operations of Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. stretch outward from its core business of housing to encompass a wide variety of other fields, including the provision of physical infrastructure. By combining expertise in these different fields, they have grown to become an unrivaled corporate group capable of integrated activities ranging across all aspects of community development. Leveraging the capabilities of its full value chain—in which they collaborate with other enterprises to engage in preparatory earthworks, the construction of houses and other buildings, and post-sale maintenance and management—they have widened their sphere of operations from Japan to the rest of the world, and have been contributing to the creation of new communities in developing countries.

About Fujita Corporation

Founded in 1910, Fujita Corporation is a major Japanese general contractor with a successful construction track record not only in Japan, but also in Central and South America and Asia. Fujita is committed to continually making efforts to create new businesses through city planning, real estate investment, and business and technical innovations. One of the major focuses of the Company has been its dedicated effort to continuing its contribution to society by combining the comprehensive strength of the Daiwa House Group with its construction technology and know-how accumulated in Japan and overseas.