JIA 2015 Awards

The Japan Institute of Architects (JIA) awards prizes annually to highlight the creativity of architects and promote their projects and contribution to society. A jury of JIA members, critics and architectural historians select the winners from hundreds of nominations. The Grand Prize for 2014 was awarded to architects Kazumi Kudo and Hiroshi Horiba for Yamaga City Elementary School.

The Grand Prize-winning architects are the founders of Coelacanth K&H Architects Inc. with offices in Tokyo and Fukuoka. Yamaga is a town founded last century in Kumamoto Prefecture with a population of more than 55,000. The elementary school is large in terms of surface area (AC 6,800 square meters) and number of users (over 850 children), completed in 2013.

The other JIA awards went to Hiroshi Nakamura for the Sayama Forest Public Cemetery Chapel; Yasuyuki Ito for the Koshinokuni Literature Museum; Norihiko Dan for the Keyaki Building, Keyaki Bd. Omotesando, Tokyo, and Yuji Hamano and Yasuhito Mishima for the Ginza Shiseido Shiseido building. The Young Architect Award was won by Yuko Nagayama for the Yokoo House in Teshima and by Masahiro Harada and Mao Harada for the House on the Shore. The JIA Award for Sustainable Architecture went to Masato Sekiya for the Navi Struct House.