kengo kuma wins japan good design award 2018 with extendible small cypress hut

kengo kuma‘s small hut is the winning entry of this year’s g-mark japan design award in the prefabricated housing category. building on jyubako, which kuma designed in 2016, the small structure has the potential to expand, allowing for the connection of multiple huts across a site.

all images courtesy of kengo kuma & associates and koya yasan

kuma has designed the small hut with a large awning on its front side, which allows it to create a public space beneath when several of them are connected while still letting natural light to come inside through the awning’s polycarbonate materiality. easy to extend according to various needs, the structure offers flexible uses and a comfortable, livable space inside, extensively clad in cypress wood from okayama.

a unique pattern is applied on the structure’s outer wall, which local sheet-metal craftsmen have created by striking galvalume steel plate. aiming at integrating craftsmanship with the latest technology, the façade design is based on the structural analysis of the hut.

the small hut has won the g-mark japan good design award 2018 in the prefabricated housing category.

project info:

designer: kengo kuma & associates

producer: ueda bankinten chief executive officer, hiroyuki ueda

director: ueda bankinten koya yasan, yohei nakayama