Edible KAYABAEN
Good Design Award
45th Green City Award—Chairman’s Prize, Organization for Landscape and Urban Green Infrastructure
Edible KAYABAEN is a sustainable urban gardening project that transforms an unused building rooftop, covering approximately 600 square meters, into a garden growing over 200 varieties of edible plants. In addition to promoting urban greenery, the project aims to address issues and foster prosperity in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward by offering regular opportunities for community engagement, particularly through food education activities for children.
Good Design Award Comment from Evaluation Bodies
Rooftop vegetable gardens utilizing rooftop spaces in urban areas have been increasing across Japan, but what distinguishes this initiative is its ongoing commitment to food education. In addition to growing, harvesting, and preparing food, it has developed an observational learning program offered to many children living in the city. The project also includes a sustainable recycling model, such as composting. As various layers of the city are continually reimagined as an Edible City, we hope that this initiative will extend beyond the rooftop and expand to the ground floor of the building as well.
Caption by Hyatt Kabutocho Tokyo
Good Design Award 2025
Forestry Agency Director General’s Prize 2025
Caption by Hyatt Kabutocho Tokyo was introduced as part of Hyatt’s new lifestyle hotel brand. Aiming to transform the historic Kabutocho district into “a place to stay,” the hotel serves as a hub that fosters connections with the local community. As part of Heiwa Real Estate’s sustainable urban development initiatives, the project adopts a wooden hybrid structure, achieving both environmental sustainability and enhanced comfort. Centered on the hotel as its anchor, this project is designed to create new vibrancy and enhance pedestrian circulation throughout the Kabutocho and Kayabacho district. The Hotel was the first foreign-affiliated hotel brand selected as a Leading Projects Program for Sustainable Buildings for 2022 (led by wooden structure) promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It was also the first hotel in Tokyo to receive the DBJ Green Building Certification (Plan Certification).
Good Design Award 2025
While the number of mid- to high-rise buildings adopting timber structures, including hybrid systems, is increasing primarily for office use, there have been very few examples of such structures being applied to high-quality hotels catering to travelers. Although many of the tourism assets encountered by international visitors to Japan are wooden structures, it has long been taken for granted that, apart from a limited number of long-established ryokan (traditional Japanese inns), guests would not experience such qualities in their accommodations. This project deliberately exposes its wooden structural frames and slab formwork both inside and outside the building, creating an environment in which guests can experience a sense of Japanese character while maintaining the standards of Western hotels. As part of a broader series of developments by the developer aimed at transforming Kabutocho, which was once primarily a hub for securities professionals, into a
more attractive district in line with changing times, the initiative is a Good Design Award–winning project that embodies the potential of the concept “A Small Step, Design Leaps,”[TC2.1] encompassing both the role of the hotel and the evolution of the district.
Forestry Agency Director General’s Prize 2025
The hotel is a 12-story urban building, built as a wooden hybrid structure, developed as part of the urban development efforts in the Nihonbashi Kabutocho and Kayabacho district. It is a pioneering example of mid- to high-rise timber construction in an urban setting that demonstrates the potential of timber structures by balancing comfort, functionality, and fire resistance, while showcasing the aesthetic appeal of wood in both interior and exterior design and minimizing environmental impact. By building relationships with factories across the country, this initiative establishes infrastructure that enables stable procurement of engineered timber in central Tokyo, which lacks local engineered wood factories, tailored to specific needs such as origin, species, and strength.
Head Office of Hakusuisha, Inc.
Good Design Award
Hakusuisha is a comprehensive display company that has been designing spaces for many years. When deciding to relocate its new head office to mark the milestone of its 75th anniversary, it chose Nihonbashi Kabutocho, a district being redeveloped by Heiwa Real Estate.
Comment from Evaluation Bodies
Firstly, the entrance hall, where visitors are welcomed by a pit-shaped staircase, is truly impressive. The narrowing of the entrance created by the pit, along with the security gate installed in the bottlenecked space, results in a highly logical and efficient layout. On the first floor, the workplace extends toward the back, with floors at varying heights that respond to the pit and staircase, gently dividing the space and offering a variety of areas. One can easily imagine a dynamic work environment where employees select the most suitable space based on the tasks they are engaged in at the time. In contrast to the first floor, the basement level presents a completely different atmosphere with its bright, white interior, likely encouraging a shift in work mode for employees. This workplace, filled with a variety of stimulating elements, is undoubtedly deserving of a Good Design Award.
Kabutocho Heiwa Building No. 7
Good Design Award
Previously used as a bank, the Kabutocho Heiwa Building No. 7 has been remodeled as retail space inside, and part of its structure has been removed to create an outdoor area. Original materials and traces of a demolished staircase have been left intact, while the building’s metal railings with botanical patterns, granite floors, and old address sign have been refitted. The plan incorporated local recycling by reusing timber formwork used for constructing the new KITOKI building nearby, as well as a locally inspired design of copper sheets attached to ceilings, representing the surface of the Nihonbashi River. Benches and counters have been arranged in spaces that encourage a variety of activities and make it easy for anyone to drop by and meet people, enjoy friendly chats, and buy coffee and bread.
Comment from Evaluation Bodies
When I had come across this building in the past, I was aware that Kabutocho has been changing. Still, this building is an example of how the neighborhood is coming alive organically not only through large-scale redevelopment but also through a combination of small-scale projects. Rather than concentrating many stores in the building, which is typical of big redevelopment projects, this one features a ‘street corner’ space. The outdoor area was opened up by removing parts of the structure, and materials were reused to create tactile textures and evoke the building’s historical background. By bringing together these small elements of time and history, the designers succeeded in creating a place where people can feel a sense of belonging. Generally, cities develop in layers over time, and this project demonstrates how realizing that concept appeals to many people. It shows the potential for developing our cities like the way trees are grown
through grafting.
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Japan Wood Design Award
KITOKI is a 10-story commercial and office building that integrates a wooden structure within a three-story steel-reinforced concrete megastructure, pioneering new possibilities for the use of wood in urban environments. The combination of concrete’s century-long durability and the lightness of the wooden structure creates innovative opportunities for incorporating wood into urban architecture.
Comment from Evaluation Bodies
This project is unique in that it encases a wooden structure within a steel-reinforced concrete frame. By leveraging the design expertise and characteristics of wooden houses, the designers have successfully created varied space layouts on each floor, giving the building the appearance of a low-rise wooden structure.
The HEART
International Design Excellence Awards 2022
Digital Signage Award 2022
Red Dot Design Award 2022
Good Design Award 2021
Created in 2021, The HEART symbolizes the flow of blood circulating through the Japanese economy, with its source in Nihonbashi Kabutocho—a historic area known for innovation, investment, and stock trading. Since the Meiji period, when Eiichi Shibusawa established Japan’s first stock exchange and bank, the area has played a pivotal role in Japan’s financial history. Featuring an iconic design and one of the world’s largest rotating LED displays, The HEART has become a new symbol of this area.
Comment from Evaluation Bodies
The HEART is one of the world’s largest rotating LED displays, and thanks to its location at a street corner, it commands an impressive presence and powerful information delivery. Although Nihonbashi Kabutocho is inevitably losing some of its vibrancy as a financial district due to the closure of the Tokyo Stock Exchange trading floor, The HEART captures the desire of those involved in the exchange to convey the area’s significance and history to visitors. By visualizing the energy of stock trading, which has become harder to grasp since its digitalization, The HEART brings this history to life. We also appreciate the display’s name, as it likens the market’s sensitivity to world affairs to the beating of a heart. We hope that the dynamic images displayed by this massive, moving structure will become a new symbol of Nihonbashi Kabutocho.
Kabutocho Heiwa Building No. 5
Good Design Award
Nihonbashi Kabutocho evolved as Japan’s center of innovation, investment, and stock trading, with its history dating back to the Meiji period, when Eiichi Shibusawa established the country’s first stock exchange and bank. The Kabutocho Heiwa Building No. 5 was completed in 1923. In 2019, the steel panels that had covered the building for 31 years were removed, restoring its facade to reflect the style of Japan’s Taisho period (1912-1926). Today, it operates as a multi-purpose commercial facility.
Comment from Evaluation Bodies
Completed in 1923, the year of the Great Kanto Earthquake, this bank annex building has been renovated, with its façade restored. The restoration preserved various vestiges added over the past 97 years, while maintaining the architectural style of the Taisho period. Rather than emphasizing the building’s historical and symbolic aspects, the restoration aimed to highlight its long-established presence in the area. Notably, the renovation of this relatively small building marks the beginning of a process to design a local hub, preceding a larger revitalization project covering approximately 10 hectares.