Gold Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2026
Higeta Building Headquarters Office
- A' Design Award 2026 Gold Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- CLIENT: Higeta Shoyu Co., Ltd.
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 39,844
- Verification code 4D033E55F9 · Verify this award
About Higeta Building Headquarters Office
Higeta Building is a seven story headquarters in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, designed for a long established soy sauce maker. The reinforced concrete structure is wrapped in anodized aluminum louvers set at a pitch of 300 mm. The louver angles vary to reduce southwest sun and to protect privacy, and the surface recalls a wheat field moving in the wind. A deep black wall coating strengthens the shadows and refers to fermentation. Inside, a central light court brings daylight into the narrow plan and supports seasonal natural ventilation.
Situated within the evolving discourse of contemporary commercial architecture, Nobuaki Miyashita's Higeta Building Headquarters Office exemplifies the sophisticated integration of parametric design principles with humanistic material sensibility. The facade treatment demonstrates considerable technical accomplishment through the orchestration of vertically oriented aluminum louvers that appear to rotate progressively across the building surface, generating an optical effect suggestive of gentle motion or flowing fabric rendered in metal. This kinetic quality emerges from the precise calibration of each louver's angle relative to its neighbors, producing graduated shifts in reflected light that transform the facade throughout the day as solar position changes. The chromatic selection of warm bronze-gold tones establishes immediate visual distinction against the neutral context of adjacent structures while maintaining appropriate collegiality within the streetscape. One might observe how the architect has employed the language of traditional screen architecture, resonant with vernacular precedents in shading devices and privacy screens, yet reinterpreted through contemporary parametric computation and precision manufacturing. The framing elements of dark charcoal at the building corners provide necessary visual grounding, establishing strong vertical boundaries that contain the dynamic louver field while creating dialogue between industrial materiality and sophisticated finish. The work invites consideration of how commercial architecture might achieve both functional performance through solar mediation and elevated aesthetic experience through careful attention to rhythm, proportion, and material warmth. Viewers may find themselves drawn to contemplate the relationship between individual elements and collective pattern, between static construction and perceived movement, between technological precision and organic warmth, questions that reward extended observation and repeated encounter.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Founded in 1616, Higeta pioneered adding wheat in 1697, shaping the prototype of koikuchi soy sauce at the root of Japan's cuisine. Honored by the Edo shogunate and later recognized by the Imperial Household, its heritage is translated into architecture. This 7-story RC headquarters in Nihonbashi uses anodized aluminum louvers at 300 mm pitch, with variable angles to cut southwest sun, protect privacy, and shimmer like a wheat field over deep black walls that evoke fermentation.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 7-story reinforced-concrete headquarters in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Site area 327.00 sqm; building area 260.32 sqm; total floor area 1,722.03 sqm. Height 29.085 m; eaves 27.720 m; floor-to-floor 3.95 m; ceiling 2.70 m. Zoning: commercial; front road width 11 m. Environmental device: anodized aluminum louver screen at 300 mm pitch with variable angles for solar control and privacy. A central light court supports daylight penetration and seasonal natural ventilation.
- Tags
- Headquarters, Architecture, Environmental facade, Aluminum louvers, Solar shading, Nihonbashi, Cultural heritage, Koikuchi soy sauce, Wheat motif, Urban identity
- Production Technology
- Facade: electrolytically colored aluminum louvers, bead-blasted then anodized, for a warm, durable sheen. Each louver is 50 mm (face) x 170 mm (depth) x 3,935 mm (height), set at 300 mm pitch with carefully varied angles. Angled plates are bolted to welded channel members for precision and cost control. Louvers continue across operable entrance doors so the facade reads as one layer. Black elastic spray coating deepens shadows and recalls fermentation richness.
- Design Challenge
- Challenge: on a narrow, deep Nihonbashi site, create a strong symbol while cutting southwest sun and protecting privacy for adjacent housing. The facade could not be heavy or closed. Identity, comfort, and buildability were unified into one continuous louver layer, tuned in pitch and angle as a climate filter. Another challenge was cultural translation: to show global jurors that Japan's everyday taste grew from Higeta's 1697 wheat innovation. History becomes geometry, shadow, and airflow.
- Project Duration
- Location: Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan (2-3 Nihonbashi Koami-cho). Design: Mar 2023-Dec 2023. Construction: Feb 2024-May 2025. A 7-story RC headquarters on a narrow, deep urban lot in a commercial zone, facing an 11 m road. It presents a civic-scale facade that communicates the cultural origin of koikuchi soy sauce, born from Higeta's 1697 wheat innovation.
- Operation Flow
- From the street, the headquarters reads as a single louvered surface; shifting shadows suggest wheat heads in wind. The variable-angle screen filters southwest sun and sightlines, improving comfort for occupants and neighbors. Inside, a central light court draws daylight deep into the narrow plan. Operable windows on the north/south walls and at the court enable seasonal natural ventilation, supported by BIM-based airflow simulations.
- Research
- Type of Research: design research. Objective: translate Higeta's 1697 wheat innovation into facade performance and urban identity. Method: louver-angle studies and wind-inspired curvature refinement; continuity tests for joints and operable doors. Tools: BIM model and CFD airflow simulation for ventilation via the light court and operable openings. Result/Impact: a unified louver screen delivering shading, privacy, daylight, and seasonal ventilation, showing heritage can be performance.
- Inspiration
- The motif is wheat, introduced by Higeta in 1697 to define koikuchi soy sauce. We made cultural memory measurable: the facade reads as a wheat field swaying in a "wind of memory" across Nihonbashi. Louver rhythm and gentle undulation were refined through computational studies so invisible forces-wind, time, and fermentation-can be felt as geometry, light, and shadow, while also delivering real shading and privacy.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Nobuaki Miyashita, Higeta Building, 2025.
Image #2: Photographer Nobuaki Miyashita, Higeta Building, 2025.
Image #3: Photographer Nobuaki Miyashita, Higeta Building, 2025.
Image #4: Photographer Nobuaki Miyashita, Higeta Building, 2025.
Image #5: Photographer Nobuaki Miyashita, Higeta Building, 2025. - Patents
- Copyrights belong to Nobuaki Miyashita, 2025.