Loftwork and RED SPACE Launch "RED SPACE MUTATIONS #01" Open Call on AWRD to Transform Endangered Spaces into Next-Generation Infrastructure
Loftwork Inc. and the architectural collective "RED SPACE" have launched "RED SPACE MUTATIONS #01," an open call on AWRD to transform endangered spaces into next-generation infrastructure. It seeks diverse ideas, from business models to technology, not limited to architectural design, aiming for social implementation.
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- 📰 Published: May 11, 2026 at 23:00
- 🔍 Collected: May 11, 2026 at 14:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 11, 2026 at 15:04 (32 min after Collected)
Loftwork Inc. (Head Office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & President: Mitsuhiro Suwa) announced today, May 11, 2026 (Monday), the launch of "RED SPACE MUTATIONS #01," an open call planned and organized in collaboration with the architectural collective "RED SPACE." This open call seeks "mutation plans" that give new value to spaces facing extinction and will be publicly announced via "AWRD," a platform for open calls and co-creation operated by Loftwork.
"RED SPACE" is an independent project started outside Loftwork by Ryosei Takenaka and Kei Hiraguri. Both are also Loftwork employees, and Loftwork supports their initiatives as internal independent activities. They have identified spaces born in large numbers in the 20th century, such as phone booths, gas stations, local railways, shopping malls, temples and shrines, and shopping streets, which are losing their roles due to societal changes, as "endangered spaces," and have been collecting, evaluating, and analyzing them.
"RED SPACE MUTATIONS #01," which is launching now, aims to re-evaluate these endangered spaces not merely as objects to be preserved, but as spatial resources adaptable to the next era. It seeks ideas for reinventing them as future social resources. The call is not limited to architectural design. Proposals can take any form, including business models, technology, institutional design, urban planning, art, and research, encompassing not only the shape of the space but also its mechanisms and usage. We are seeking ideas that positively transform endangered spaces into "new infrastructure" suitable for the next era.
This open call is positioned not as a fleeting award, but as the first phase towards social implementation. Applicants will be invited to join the "RED SPACE COLLECTIVE" community, which will be established after the call closes. The aim is for proposers, businesses, local governments, researchers, experts, and local residents to continuously discuss and connect to demonstration experiments, prototype production, and collaborative research.
RED SPACE/Endangered Spaces Website
RED SPACE MUTATIONS #01 Application Page
## Reimagining disappearing spaces as social resources for the next era
Since the 20th century, to achieve Japan's rapid modernization, many standardized infrastructures such as train stations, post offices, gas stations, and phone booths were built across Japan. These once served as familiar social foundations supporting daily life, transportation, consumption, and community interaction. However, due to technological innovation, population decline, changes in industrial structure, institutional updates, and shifts in lifestyle, many of these spaces have lost their roles, leading to shrinkage, demolition, and hollowing out.
RED SPACE treats these not merely as "outdated spaces" or "negative legacies," but as large-scale spatial resources left by past societies. If existing spatial infrastructures distributed nationwide can be given "mutations" to adapt to the next era, there is potential to create a greater social impact than building new architecture.
For example, each phone booth is a small space of a few square meters. However, when viewed as a systematized network distributed nationwide, they could be updated into new infrastructure capable of fulfilling completely different functions, such as communication, information, evacuation, care, community dialogue, and local services.
This open call seeks proposals that redesign not only specific building renovations, but also the specifications, systems, operation, ownership, revenue, experience, and technology of spaces.
Decrease rate of example targets
- Phone booths, once communication infrastructure, decreased by approximately 14% due to the spread of mobile phones.
- Gas stations, which supported the automotive society, decreased by approximately 46% due to the spread of electric vehicles and a lack of successors.
## Welcoming applications that utilize AI and digital tools to shape ideas
"RED SPACE MUTATIONS #01" is not an open call exclusively for architectural and urban planning professionals.
The spaces targeted by this inquiry are places everyone has seen in their daily lives. Therefore, this open call considers not only specialized architectural design skills but also observations as residents, business ideas, regional experiences, discomfort with existing systems, ideas for technology utilization, deep interests, and even fantasies as important starting points.
Applicants are welcome to visualize and structure their ideas using generative AI, image-generating AI, 3D tools, research tools, and prototyping tools. Applications are accepted in various formats, including business concepts, service models, institutional proposals, experience design, research, and art projects, not limited to professional drawings or architectural perspectives.
Online briefing session to provide tips for application
"RED SPACE MUTATION
"RED SPACE" is an independent project started outside Loftwork by Ryosei Takenaka and Kei Hiraguri. Both are also Loftwork employees, and Loftwork supports their initiatives as internal independent activities. They have identified spaces born in large numbers in the 20th century, such as phone booths, gas stations, local railways, shopping malls, temples and shrines, and shopping streets, which are losing their roles due to societal changes, as "endangered spaces," and have been collecting, evaluating, and analyzing them.
"RED SPACE MUTATIONS #01," which is launching now, aims to re-evaluate these endangered spaces not merely as objects to be preserved, but as spatial resources adaptable to the next era. It seeks ideas for reinventing them as future social resources. The call is not limited to architectural design. Proposals can take any form, including business models, technology, institutional design, urban planning, art, and research, encompassing not only the shape of the space but also its mechanisms and usage. We are seeking ideas that positively transform endangered spaces into "new infrastructure" suitable for the next era.
This open call is positioned not as a fleeting award, but as the first phase towards social implementation. Applicants will be invited to join the "RED SPACE COLLECTIVE" community, which will be established after the call closes. The aim is for proposers, businesses, local governments, researchers, experts, and local residents to continuously discuss and connect to demonstration experiments, prototype production, and collaborative research.
RED SPACE/Endangered Spaces Website
RED SPACE MUTATIONS #01 Application Page
## Reimagining disappearing spaces as social resources for the next era
Since the 20th century, to achieve Japan's rapid modernization, many standardized infrastructures such as train stations, post offices, gas stations, and phone booths were built across Japan. These once served as familiar social foundations supporting daily life, transportation, consumption, and community interaction. However, due to technological innovation, population decline, changes in industrial structure, institutional updates, and shifts in lifestyle, many of these spaces have lost their roles, leading to shrinkage, demolition, and hollowing out.
RED SPACE treats these not merely as "outdated spaces" or "negative legacies," but as large-scale spatial resources left by past societies. If existing spatial infrastructures distributed nationwide can be given "mutations" to adapt to the next era, there is potential to create a greater social impact than building new architecture.
For example, each phone booth is a small space of a few square meters. However, when viewed as a systematized network distributed nationwide, they could be updated into new infrastructure capable of fulfilling completely different functions, such as communication, information, evacuation, care, community dialogue, and local services.
This open call seeks proposals that redesign not only specific building renovations, but also the specifications, systems, operation, ownership, revenue, experience, and technology of spaces.
Decrease rate of example targets
- Phone booths, once communication infrastructure, decreased by approximately 14% due to the spread of mobile phones.
- Gas stations, which supported the automotive society, decreased by approximately 46% due to the spread of electric vehicles and a lack of successors.
## Welcoming applications that utilize AI and digital tools to shape ideas
"RED SPACE MUTATIONS #01" is not an open call exclusively for architectural and urban planning professionals.
The spaces targeted by this inquiry are places everyone has seen in their daily lives. Therefore, this open call considers not only specialized architectural design skills but also observations as residents, business ideas, regional experiences, discomfort with existing systems, ideas for technology utilization, deep interests, and even fantasies as important starting points.
Applicants are welcome to visualize and structure their ideas using generative AI, image-generating AI, 3D tools, research tools, and prototyping tools. Applications are accepted in various formats, including business concepts, service models, institutional proposals, experience design, research, and art projects, not limited to professional drawings or architectural perspectives.
Online briefing session to provide tips for application
"RED SPACE MUTATION