A’ Design Award & Competition Winners 2023

The A’ Design Award & Competition, renowned as the world’s premier and most extensive international design accolade, proudly announced the outcomes of the 2022 – 2023 design competition in April 2023.

Each entry underwent a meticulous evaluation by an internationally diverse jury panel consisting of esteemed scholars, influential press members, innovative design professionals, and seasoned entrepreneurs. Their commitment to excellence was evident in the careful attention and consideration they devoted to each submission. The judging process was marked by an in-depth review by the jury panel, who cast their votes after thorough examination and deliberation.

This year’s competition was marked by an exceptional breadth of innovation, with 1884 winners hailing from 114 countries across 140 different design disciplines. We extend an invitation to design enthusiasts, aficionados, and editors worldwide to immerse themselves in a wealth of design inspiration and explore the latest trends across the realms of arts, architecture, and technology. This can be achieved by visiting the A’ Design Awards’ online gallery of winners at http://www.designaward.com. This platform showcases all the top designs from the 2022 – 2023 International A’ Design Competition alongside the remarkable works awarded in previous years.

In addition, ArchEyes is thrilled to showcase a specially curated selection of 20 award-winning designs from the 2023 edition.

F House Residential Building by Keisuke Fukui and Keisuke Morikawa

• Designers: Keisuke Fukui and Keisuke Morikawa
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “The site is located in a town where 75% of the households are newcomers, and it is feared that if left unchecked, the site will become obsolete with the aging of the population. Through research, they discovered a stock-sharing network, a culture of increasing and sharing plants that is unique to this area. They wanted to utilize this architecture to expand this network, to strengthen the ties between residents, and to improve the town by the residents.”

Iceland Volcano Museum by Yuting Zhang

• Designers: Yuting Zhang
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “The design of the Iceland Volcano Museum is deeply inspired by the stunning surroundings of Myvatn. The architects have taken cues from the volcanic craters, hot springs, and lakes that characterize the region, incorporating them into the museum’s circular form. The intention is to create a space that respects and celebrates the natural beauty of the area, allowing visitors to experience the landscape in a new and immersive way.”

Mountain Waves Cultural Center by Di Mo

• Designers: Di Mo
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Bronze A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “Chinese Shanshui paintings feature mountains, water, and people in a harmonious relationship. The site is in Maotai, China. Sandwiched between two hills, it presents a unique opportunity for us to engage the landscape in the design process. In the background, we see the mountainous landscape, looking like “waves” of mountains.”

Tianqingli Residential Townhouse by Likun Shen

• Designers: Likun Shen
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Bronze A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “This project creates the spatial pattern of a multi-sided landscape and multiple courtyards, forming a direct dialogue between architecture and nature. The courtyard presents a natural openness while giving consideration to privacy. The project classifies the courtyards with the traditional Chinese garden landscape borrowing approach. Thus the sequence between the private and public courtyards is more variable, which is closer to being in line with the contemporary aesthetic needs.”

Orchard Stone House Residence by Rado Iliev

• Designers: Rado Iliev
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Bronze A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “House is inspired by the incredible setting and views and the surrounding almond trees orchard. Use of the stone quarry of the site informed the building design too.”

Tension Instrument Concert Hall by Lihan Jin

• Designers: Lihan Jin
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Gold A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “Tension is a material property that creates both music and architecture. Inspired by Dvorak’s New World Symphony, the prototype originates from a piece of wood bent by a string in tension. The concert hall is an orchestration of walls, balconies, and acoustic panels, which are developed from the prototype by different scales and tectonics.”

Coexisting With Nature Clinic by Yoshiaki Tanaka

• Designer: Yoshiaki Tanaka
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “The client wanted a clinic where patients could relax and look forward to their visits. He also liked the bamboo groves and loquat trees on the property. With a frontage of 17.5 meters and a depth of 49 meters, and a height difference of 3 meters, the site was overgrown with various plants, and the fields were abandoned. TSC wanted to design a clinic where patients can experience nature, taking advantage of the existing land’s characteristics, rather than creating a flat land that is easy to use.”

The Kaleidoscope Office and Residence by Inrestudio

• Designer: Inrestudio, Nguyen Quynh Han, and Vo Hanh Nhan
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “The characteristic roof of the building inherits the idea of Non-La, a Vietnamese traditional farmer’s hat made of palm leaf, that a large conical surface shuts out sunlight and rain while allowing for the wind underneath. In order to enhance natural ventilation, solid walls are arranged perpendicularly to the roof periphery. These form a series of V-shapes to cut out triangular private rooms while defining a large in-between space that is used for public functions.”

Qinglong Ting Landscape Pavilion by Xiaomao Cao

• Designer: Cao Xiaomao
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “Upon conducting an on-site investigation, we discerned a pervasive communal activity that unites the villagers— lingering. Architectural elements in the local edifices of this hamlet exhibit a prominent enlargement of the porch vicinity adjacent to the entrance. These elongated overhangs seamlessly connect, providing an inviting space where inhabitants partake in solitary reflection, engage in convivial group discussions, or participate in spirited rounds of card games beneath the unbroken shelter of the continuous eaves.”

Collina del Faro Residential Building by Alberto Torres

• Designer: Alberto Torres, Architecture Interior: Sabrina Barros, Constructor: Construtora Montebello
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “The project was inspired by the natural landscape of the intervention lot, which is located at the foot of Farol Hill and in front of the beach in the coastal city of Torres-RS, in Brazil.”

Ideareve Ikegami Music Hall by Ryuichi Sasaki and Takayuki Yagi

• Designer: Takayuki Yagi, Yagi Komuten
  
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “What inspired this design most is the unique location at the foot of Ikegami Honmonji temple and the surrounding hilly landscape. This inspired us to incorporate a mountainous topography effect into the geometrical volume of the building.”

Timeless Residence by Satoshi Kurosaki

• Designer: Satoshi Kurosaki
  
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “This house in a quiet residential neighborhood of central Tokyo was built for a couple who had long lived on the property but wanted to rebuild as they entered a new phase of life. The simple exterior design comprised of two massive volumes piled on top of each other takes advantage of the corner lot, with a façade of exposed concrete imprinted with cedar formwork. Outward-facing windows are limited to horizontal slits to preserve privacy and increase security.”

Yantai Experience Sales Centre and Exhibition by More Design Office

• Designer: Justin Bridgland, Jaycee Chui
  
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “The typical exhibition center is designed as a loop or a one-way path. Often a courtyard or site model is placed at the center as a focus; circulation is linear, lacking interconnection between distant spaces. MDO decided to challenge this norm by creating a public area at its center, a place for discussion and interaction. MDO wanted to design the space to be more human-centric and welcoming. The other functions are arranged as peripheral crystal ramifications, connected to the central heart.“

High Purity Taoist Palace on the Site Protective Shelter by Guanghai Cui

• Designers: Cui Guanghai, Li Jing, Zhu Mingxia, Zhou Lin, Xu Zhilan, Zheng Ningxin, Yang Tianyu, Ma Zhigang, Xu Jinghui, Zhou Su, Liu Suna, Ma Xiaoxiao, Tao Jin, Hu Sheng, Ma Zhenhua, Du Huiry, Zhang Qinghua, Chai lin, Wang Yahui, Yu Haitao, Zhan Xiaoqing, Wan Peng, Cheng Meihua, Huang Shunmao, Chen Fuyun, Zhu Lihui, Zhang Jintao, Jin Dongjun
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “As it was expected by the local communities and religious groups to build a new Taoist palace in pseudo-classical Chinses style on the site long before, the conservation project of protective shelters, interpretation and exhibition of the relics, and other preservation measures has finally helped to meet the demands of local people and to continue the tradition of this living heritage in a balanced way with modern architectural philosophy and technologies.”

Dalian 37 Xiang Cultural and Creative Park by United Units Architects

• Designers: Yongzheng Li, Qizhi Li, Liang Deng, Wenbo He, Teng Jiang, Xinghua Ma, Hongbo Fang, Yanfeng Lyu, Huanyu Chen, Jiaxin Zhang, and Yuxin Jin
  
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Gold A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “The emergence of the architectural image comes from the exploration of Dalian’s city spirit. Combining the unique geographical resources of mountains, hills, peninsulas, and oceans, together with the urban fabric, has created the impression of Dalian as a city of mountains and seas. The first inspiration for the architectural design comes from the geographical features of the city. The design language is abstracted from the form of waves and sails, establishing a spiritual connection between the building and people by endowing the building with a new visual imagination.”

The Nude Flat Residential House by Maggie Mo and Jay Leung

• Designer: Maggie Mo, Jay Leung and Vivian Cheung
  
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Interior Space Award Winner
• Inspiration: “This project is inspired by the Cycladic culture, best known for its schematic flat female idols carved out of the islands’ pure white marble. It is important for the design to follow the core values of traditional Cycladic architecture found on the Greek islands by discovering its curvaceous shapes in all kinds of forms.”

Yuamu Hotel by Naoya Tochio

• Designer: Naoya Tochio
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Interior Space Award Winner
• Inspiration: “With the spread of COVID-19 in 2019, the demand for banquet halls has disappeared. Therefore, the owner wondered if the banquet hall could be renovated as guest rooms. Taking advantage of the high ceilings, they decided on an original plan that could not be realized on any other guest room floor. Both the living room and bathroom were placed near the window so that they could look out on the river flowing in front of them, creating a new, unprecedented Japanese modern guest room.”

Shanan Hotel by Eason Zhu

• Designer: Eason Zhu, Erhuan Chai, Yeqing Feng, Eileen Chen, Jiajun Li, Apple Wu, Yiting Du, Liangliang Weng, and Xiaoxian Hu
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Interior Space Award Winner
• Inspiration: “Inspired by the surrounding bamboo sea and mountain scenery, the design language expresses the yearning and awe for nature. While enjoying the beautiful scenery, it can trigger deep thinking about life.”

Clip Lounge Chair by Meiqing Tian

• Designer: Meiqing Tian
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Bronze A’ Furniture Award Winner
• Inspiration: “The Clip Chair is a versatile seating option that seamlessly transitions from outdoor to indoor environments. The design of this chair bears a resemblance to a paper clip, lending it a playful and whimsical aesthetic.”

Petra Dining Table by Caterina Moretti

• Designer: Caterina Moretti
  
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Furniture Award Winner
• Inspiration: “The inspiration behind Petra is Mexico’s whimsical, rugged terrain and the volcanoes within. In Petra, we created a symbol of this language full of the force, warmth, and raw beauty that defines what being Mexican means by reflecting nature’s most pristine beauty: that which flows from the Earth’s core, mesmerizing and enticing us with a touch of mystery and adventure..”

Registration for the A’ Design Award & Competition 2023-2024 period is now open.
Results will be announced to the public on April 2024.