“Pure Wooden 8-Story” AQ Group Headquarters Building Selected for “Architectural Institute of Japan Award for Selected Architectural Works,” Receives “Wooden Architecture Award,” Totaling 8 Accolades

AQ Group (Headquarters: Nishi-ku, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture; Representative Director and President: Hiroaki Kato)'s 8-story pure wooden headquarters building has been selected for the "Architectural Institute of Japan Award for Selected Architectural Works" (organized by the Architectural Institute of Japan) and received the "20th Wooden Architecture Award, Special Jury Prize" (co-organized by the NPO Forum for Wooden Architecture and the Japan Federation of Architects & Building Engineers Associations). Since its completion in March 2024, it has accumulated 8 awards, and its advanced initiatives in medium to large-scale wooden construction continue to be highly evaluated.

A prototype that regional builders and local general contractors can handle becomes the starting point for the popularization of medium to large-scale wooden construction.

Highly evaluated for both design philosophy and technology, selected for the "Architectural Institute of Japan Award for Selected Architectural Works."

This time, the AQ Group headquarters building was selected for the "Architectural Institute of Japan Award for Selected Architectural Works." This award recognizes outstanding works in the architectural field and is a prestigious award given only to particularly excellent works among those published in the architectural work collection "Selected Architectural Works." This year, 10 works were awarded the "Architectural Institute of Japan Award for Selected Architectural Works" from 98 works selected by the "Selected Architectural Works" Committee.

The evaluation particularly noted the point that it "achieved both cost-effectiveness and aesthetic appeal by utilizing traditional Japanese timber frame construction methods, which are commonly used in wooden houses, while leveraging regional builders and pre-cut technology." Furthermore, points such as "realizing an 8-story pure wooden structure with its own original construction method without relying on seismic isolation or damping devices" were highly praised as a "differentiated philosophy and technology" from medium to large-scale wooden construction led by major companies.

In addition, the point that it "is not just a single work but positioned as a prototype, with a view to expanding to 4-6 story offices and collective housing" was also a subject of evaluation. The attitude of connecting the design philosophy and technology, which were born through trial and error, to "popularization" is expected to show a new path for medium to large-scale wooden construction.

Received the "Wooden Architecture Award" as an advanced example of wooden construction.

AQ Group headquarters building achieves 8 total awards.

The same building also received the "Special Jury Prize" in the "Wooden Architecture Award" organized by the NPO Forum for Wooden Architecture. This award aims to contribute to the improvement of wooden architectural culture by recognizing wooden architecture and its activities, and evaluates from multiple perspectives such as the expression of regional culture and climate, industrial promotion through timber use, and technical inheritance.

This 20th edition, themed "What is needed now in wooden architecture and activities?", gathered 47 works from the Kanto-Koshinetsu area, and 11 works received awards. This building is particularly noted for "realizing a spacious office space of 10.92m x 27.3m despite being wooden," and "challenging with traditional Japanese timber frame construction methods for a building scale that would conventionally select steel or reinforced concrete structures." In the on-site inspection, it was highly evaluated as an "architecture where the charm of wood is impressively expressed by exposing wood in the interior space." Furthermore, "the process itself, which led to completion through repeated new design ingenuity and numerous verification experiments, was also evaluated as an advanced example of wooden construction," and "the combination of technical backing and feasibility" led to the award.

In recent years, interest in wooden construction has rapidly increased from the perspectives of reducing environmental impact, revitalizing local economies, and even inheriting traditional technologies. Amidst these movements, our company completed an 8-story pure wooden office building in March 2024. In the medium to large-scale domain, where steel and reinforced concrete structures were dominant, we have achieved both the appeal and practicality of wood, demonstrating a significant presence in the market.

A major feature of this building is that it reinterpreted the potential of traditional Japanese timber frame construction methods, which have been generally used in wooden houses, and combined existing housing infrastructure and general-purpose timber to realize "medium to large-scale wooden construction that anyone can handle" at a popular price range. By manualizing and modularizing, it is also a demonstration building that aimed to reform the industry structure and create new business opportunities by building a system that allows diverse players such as regional builders and local general contractors to participate, without being bound by the traditional framework led by major general contractors.

The building has now achieved 8 total awards with this double accolade. It has continuously received high evaluations from multiple perspectives such as design, construction method, and design, including the globally prestigious design award "iF DESIGN AWARD." However, this project is not an endpoint. We position it as a starting point for innovating the state of Japanese wooden architecture and will strive for further technical refinement. Furthermore, by creating an environment where regional builders and local general contractors can easily enter medium to large-scale wooden construction, we aim to spread "pure wooden forests" nationwide together and contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.

≪AQ Group Pure Wooden 8-Story Headquarters Building Overview≫

Location: 5-976-1 Mimuro, Nishi-ku, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture

Site Area: 3,776.95 ㎡

Architecture