Regular Deadline: January 12th, 2025

 

Three Cubes in the Forest

  • Prize
    Honorable Mention in Furniture Design
  • Company/Firm
    KOTOAKI ASANO Architect
  • Designer
    Kotoaki Asano
  • Location
    Karuizawa-machi, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano, Japan
  • Project Date
    July, 2016

Playground equipment for children, public furniture, art objects, meditation rooms, arbors, small rest spaces, waiting rooms, chairs with roofs.
Three Cubes are the micro-architectures with the various characteristics and functions. Three Cubes can be easily transported by a truck and can be installed, because of the size and the shape. Three Cubes with the rich spatial implication can give the new public extensity to each place and can activate urban spaces. In terms of the size, the installation (the inclination), seat surfaces, windows etc., each cube is designed characteristically.
Three Cubes are referenced to Japanese traditional spaces like tea ceremony rooms. Its characteristics can be explained from the viewpoint of richness, variability, mobility of minimum spaces. Three Cubes bring people heuristic and fresh spactial experiences. Three Cubes are the device with the various properties and functions, and can be put at the public place.
Three Cubes may change the concept of the architecture, and are furniture, art, small buildings and playground equipment. Therefore, it is located in the border of the conventional design concept.

Bio
I am an architect, an artist, a designer and a poet.
The spaces designed by me include many implications by poetic sensitivity. I would like to show everybody the new vision of the world clearly and sensuously.
Human activity takes place on the very thin surface of a large sphere. I am working on the concept of designing the skin of the Earth.

1997, Architecture(school of engineering), Master, the University of Tokyo, JAPAN.
2005-, KOTOAKI ASANO Architect & Associates, JAPAN.

2015, "KOBE Biennale 2015", JAPAN.
2017, "KAMEYAMA Triennale 2017", JAPAN.
2019, "NAKANOJO Biennale 2019", JAPAN.

Other prizes
2013, Architectural Institute of Japan Rookie of the year Awards, JAPAN. 2017, iF DESIGN AWARD, GERMANY. 2017, DFA Design for Asia Awards 2017 Silver Award, HONG?KONG. 2017, GOOD DESIGN AWARDS, CHICAGO ATHENAEUM/USA. 2018, Red Dot Award: Product Design 2018. 2018, International Design Excellence Awards 2018 Bronze, USA. 2019, ICONIC AWARDS 2019 Winner, German Design Council. 2019, Architecture MasterPrize 2019 Winner, USA. 2020, German Design Award 2020 Winner.