ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD (Review Committee Chair Award)

Development of the Evaluation Method for Domestic
Hardwood as Musical Instruments (Kyoto Prefecture)
Laboratory of Biomaterials Design, Division of Forest andBiomaterials Science, Graduate School of Agriculture,
Kyoto University / Technology and ResearchThis method enables to visualize the acoustic characteristics
of domestic hardwood in comparison to those of imported
hardwood for making musical instruments. This method isexpected to add more values to lower-priced domestic
hardwood species, and, ultimately, to lead to a high-profit
forestry management.

Public Disaster Restoration Houses for the Great East Japan
Earthquake “Johoku Housing Complex” (Fukushima Prefecture)
Fukushima Prefecture, Arakawa Architectural Design Office Co.,
Ltd., Aizu Doken Co., Ltd., Hikari Densetsu Co., Ltd., Yatsuhashi
Setsubi Co., Ltd. / Architecture and Space
Dismantled materials of emergency relief houses are temporarily
stored and reused in building the public disaster restoration
houses to secure the living of refugees in Fukushima prefecture.
The disaster restoration houses are designed to enable reuse ofbuilding materials through the application of the “Itakura”
method which applies detachable screws instead of nails.

”Shisō-cedar house”： ecological building system for theHarima region (Hyogo Prefecture)
Yamahiro wood builder Co., Ltd., Shisō-no-morinoki Co., Ltd.
/ Communication
Yamahiro wood builder Co. uses the Shisō-cedar for
approximately 90% of wood for the construction of this typeof houses, and practically connects regional knowledge ofthe culture and environment of the Harima region. Yamahiro
hopes that the Shisō-cedar house would develop a newlandscape and promotes the exchange among residents inthe city.

Wooden electric car “Eco-sugi+” (Fukuoka Prefecture)
Kisai Koubou / Communication
An electric car with wood used for interior and exterior.
Except for the joint with the main frame, use of screws isrestrained as far as possible. The car was exhibited in many
local events and drew attention from customers and media.
The car also exhibits the possibility of wood use in a wide
variety of products other than furniture.

Roof Truss Unit for the Next Generation (Iwate Prefecture)
Kiraku Souken Co., Ltd. / Technology and Research
A brand-new roof truss unit using thinned wood. The volumeof materials and the cost of processing can be reduced
drastically. Since the number of components is limited,anyone can easily assemble the truss unit. This project would
contribute to increasing use of thinned wood, and especially,
lower-graded wood in the local primary industry.

Renovation of Wooden Houses for Healthy and Comfortable
Life (Aichi Prefecture)
Shinwa Kensetus Co., Ltd. / Technology and ResearchThis project focuses on the thermal problem of wooden houses,
which is the major driving factor for renovation. The projectcompared health conditions of residents and inside/outside
temperatures of houses before and after the renovations,which evidenced health improvement of the residents.

Cutting-edge Wood Products in Japan

The “Wood Design Award” acknowledges outstanding wood products and related activities which contribute to
the promotion of comfortable life, human health, and social prosperity from the perspective of consumers.
Overview of Wood Design Award 2017
● Management Body: Wood Design Award Steering Committee( Iki-iki-mori Network, National Land Afforestation Promotion Organization,
Universal Design Intelligence., Inc.)●Program supported by Forestry Agency●Application Period: June 20 – July 28, 2017
●Works and activities eligible for consideration:
Architecture, Space, Building Material

Retail stores, public institutions/facilities, offices, houses, and building materials

Wood Products

Furniture, interior goods, tableware and kitchenware, daily goods, stationaries, and toys

Communication

Workshops, promotional activities, capacity building, business model

Technology and ResearchTechnology, research and development, and trial work

●Award Categories
Lifestyle Design: Promote the quality of life through wood use-Construction, space, wood products, projects, or technology and research which improve the functionality or convenience by wooduse, explore the new domain of wood use, or propose better life with wood use to consumers.

Health Care Design: Improve mental and physical well-being through wood use-Construction, space, wood products, projects, or technology and research which appeal to human senses, provide relaxation, improvemental and physical health, or communicate background stories of producers through wood use.

Social Design: Revitalize community through wood use-Construction, space, wood products, projects, or technology and research which contribute to the revitalization of forestry andcommunity, develop sustainable systems of wood use, advocate the importance of wood use, or develop human resources.
Printed on paper made with wood from forest thinning.

BEST AWARD (Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award)
Northern Station Gate Akita Project (Akita Prefecture)/East Japan Railway Company, Akita University of Art, Hagiwara Furniture MFG. Co., Ltd.,JR East Design Corporation, Daiichi Kensetsu Co., Ltd., Tekken Corporation

EXCELLENCE AWARD (Forestry Agency Director-General Award)

CJ Series (Nara Prefecture)studioJig / Wood Products

Sukumo Shogin Credit Association Main Office(Kochi Prefecture)
Sou Architectural Factory, Sukumo Shogin, Ltd.,Sankoh Kensetsu / Architecture & space

Exposition of Wood and Housing(Kanagawa Prefecture)
Nice Corporation, Wood & Housing Research
Association, Institute for Wooden Building
Structure / Communication

This furniture series is made of coniferous
wood (Yoshino sugi), which has been longconsidered improper as furniture materials,
with a special molding technology. The uniqueform is equipped with beauty and strength,presenting an extraordinary feel suitable forsuch facilities as hotels or public institutions.
The curved design is beautiful, and thecomfort and stability of seating are excellent.
These chairs are expected to be used inJapanese hotels or public institutions as wellas private houses. This project realized thebalance between the beauty of wood use andthe functionality as furniture at the same time.

This is the firs t wo oden bank building whichused C LT for the s truc tura l me mbers. I ts
impressive appea rance with the wooden
half-tilted roof dra ws a ttentions in therura l la ndscape. The ba lance be tween the
post-and-be am s truc ture and the pa nel
struc ture of C LT appea ls the po te ntial andfunctiona lity of woo d use to the visitors. In
partic ula r, the ce iling c o mposed of C LT a ndstretc hing s trings rea lized the la rge spacewith the spa n of 11.4 me te rs without postin the lobby and office roo m on the gro undfloo r. This wo oden space sho wc ases thecrea tive des ign of C LT, while se rving fo r
daily lives of local people as a ba nking
facility.

A comprehensive exposition to communicate thelatest information and brand-new proposals on
houses, construction, and lifestyles with wood,presented through the cooperation among
enterprises, organizations, local governments,and research institutes. The expositions were
held in five locations in Japan, attracting as manyas 150,000 visitors in total, ranging from general
people to professional wood users.
Theexposition presents various uses of wood in the
housing and construction sector. Visitors canlearn and enjoy the uses of wood through firsthand experiences. The scale of the exposition ishuge, with the participation of wide range ofstakeholders.

Promotion of “Houses with Firewood Stove”(Hokkaido Prefecture)
Hokusei Kensetsu Inc., Eniwa Furusato 100-nenno-mori / Communication

Wooden Indoor Playground “Kansei-no-mori”(Miyagi Prefecture)
Nishiki Estate Inc., Progetto Corporation, Akagawa
Design Office, Hokuju Co., Ltd. / Architecture andSpace

Mousepad and Fountainpen Case of Curved Wood
(Niigata Prefecture)
Storio Corporation / Wood Products

The company promotes the proposal-based projectof wooden houses which are built with Hokkaido
wood and are installed with firewood stoves tosource local firewood supplied from Eniwa City.
The company also provides many opportunities forclients to experience local forests and wood, suchas establishing firewood hacking group andopening its company forest to a local kindergarten
for study experiences on nature and forest.
Beyond the use of firewood stoves, the project
also extends to “soft” programs including wood
education and forestry experiences. This projectprovides the clients of the local builder with anunique opportunity to think about local forest
while living in wooden houses.

In this wooden indoor playground for children,
there is no such toy as plastic or mechanical. All of
the space is composed of wood, including a poolcontaining 300,000 pieces of wooden balls andvarious types of wooden building blocks, allowingchildren to play with wood and feel the touch ofwood through their “five senses”. This playgroundprovides a unique opportunity for visitors to learn
the charm of wood through first-hand experiences.

This mousepad enables comfortable and stress-free
operations of computers with the bendable palm
rest assisting ups and downs of the wrist of users aswell as the smooth finish of wooden surface. The
fountainpen case is light-weighted but tough with aminimal and beautiful design, presenting thebeauty of wood grains of maple and the touch ofwooden surface. Both products are produced by aunique technology of wood-bending, realizing bothbeauty and functionality at the same time.

G-Building Jiyu-ga-oka 01B (Tokyo)
Japan Retail Fund Investment Corporation, Klein
Dytham Architecture, Fujita Corporation, ShelterCo., Ltd. / Architecture and Space

New Tree Procurement System with Drone (UAV)(Okayama Prefecture)
Innosho Forestry Co., Ltd. / Technology andResearch

Wooden Sound-proof System “Mute” (Tokyo)
Mitsui Home Co., Ltd. / Technology and Research

A one-hour fire resistant commercial building
with the wooden fire-resistant material, “COOL
WOOD.” This three-story comfortable building
warmly welcomes visitors with the concept of“Home.” Wood is used for the exteriors as well as
the structural members of the building tocompose an excellent design, which provides acharming and pleasant wooden space withimpressive appearances. The wood use augments
the value of the space, where visitors can enjoy
the woody surroundings, and the tenants can gain
synergy effects of the attractive space and theirproducts.

This system enables to identify the boundary of a
specific land area and the species of trees standing
there, with the use of GIS and 3D photos taken bydrones (UAVs), at the time of procurement ofstanding trees. The system also enables anaccurate value estimate of standing trees for ashort period of time, and solves the problem of
information shortage on forest land due to changeof hands and aging of forest owners. Efficiency andaccuracy of procurement of standing trees would
contribute to the realization of stable supply ofwood.

Wood has a weak point of sound-proof
performance due to its light weight. Market
research results show that there is a great needfor high sound-proof performance in buildings.
The company developed the new sound-proof
floor system “Mute,” which enables builders toexplore the new frontier of wood use, whileproviding home owners with comfortable livingenvironment. Sound-proof performance is very
important for people living in collective houses,
especially for family with small children. Thissystem would promote use of wood for interior
and flooring by mitigating the noise problems.

ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD (Review Committee Chair Award)

Nagoya University Common Facility for Music
Practice –Conversion of Telescope ExperimentCenter (Aichi Prefecture)
Nagoya University Campus Planning & Environment
Management Office / Architecture and Space
A music practicing facility for students’ music club
activities, which was converted from the university
telescope experiment center.

Hutte “NANANA” (Fukui Prefecture)
Masateru Yoshimura, hyakka Inc., Yamazaki Corporation/Architecture and SpaceA second house/office for the manager of a website design
company. This building uses wood as far as possible while
applying other materials according to their characteristic, forthe realization of comfort with simple and undecorated design.

Wooden headphones “Konohazuk H3” (Tokyo)
Konohazuk LLC., Yamakoshi MokkouBou, Takeyama
Mokkoujyo, AZDEN Corporation,Fujita Kigata Seisakusho / Wood Products
Wooden headphones made of Japanese beech producedin Iwate Prefecture. The headphone is characterized byits unique acoustic performance of wood, soft fitting forhuman body, and beautifully shaped form.

LIFE & Shine piece (Hiroshima Prefecture)
LIFE & Shine piece, SweetD Co., Ltd., MatsubaraSangyo
Co., Ltd. / Wood Products
Portable candy cases and stationaries made of Japanese
fir wood. These fancy items would stimulate the playful
mind of consumers. The idea to propose a new life stylewith wood is unique and enjoyable.

Wooden Partition Pole (Chiba Prefecture)
Yamani Tategu Co., Ltd. / Wood Products
Wooden partition poles made of local wood. The poles areexpected to be used for game sites, events, or airports during
the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, promoting
use of local wood. Since such poles are familiar in our daily
lives, potential demand would be large.

Youkoudai Elementary School (Ibaraki Prefecture)
Azusa Sekkei Co., Ltd., Tsukubamirai city, NishimatsuTanihara JV / Architecture and SpaceThis school building is composed as a “half-open” structure,
which allows light, wind, and activities pass through, while
blocking sounds and views by triangular walls.

Design LAB Tsukishima (Tokyo)
Itoki Corporation / Architecture and SpaceA laboratory for designers to “make,” “try,” and “show” theirproducts in a single space. The space uses unfinished wood
products including recycled wood for floors, walls, andfurniture. The space stimulates the spirit of “challenge”, andencourages communications among different fields.

Babybath “Ufu-Yuoke” (Nagano Prefecture)
Council of Wooden Baby Bath from Birth , Shimizu Mokuzai,Mori-no-Marche / Wood Products
A wooden bathtub for babies. The size of the bathtub issuitable for a kitchen sink. The aroma of Sawara (a kind ofcypress species) wood provides with effects of relaxing andprevention of atopic dermatitis. After the use as a baby bath,the tub can be used as footbath or storage in a daily life.

Kids Toy “GALA” (Kanagawa Prefecture)
Sanrokusha / Wood Products
An electronic music instrument which plays more than
100 sounds of ethnic musical instruments in the world .
The instrument is made of raw wood, providing smoothsurface. The instrument starts playing music by justshaking, thus, even small children can enjoy various music.

COVER : BEST AWARD (Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award)
Northern Station Gate Akita Project (Akita Prefecture)
East Japan Railway Company, Akita University of Art, Hagiwara Furniture MFG. Co., Ltd.,JR East Design Corporation, Daiichi Kensetsu Co., Ltd., Tekken Corporation / Architecture and SpaceIn the city center around the JR Akita Station, the station building, corridor, and waiting lounge have been renovated with a uniform design ofwooden interiors in harmony with the wood use in nearby facilities through cooperation among local governments, university, and localcompanies. The project aimed to create the place for sightseers to experience the touch of local Akita wood, as well as for the local residents
to feel comfortable. Through the cooperation of a wide range of stakeholders related to wood use, the project realized the place surrounded
by wood, where people can experience the touch of wood and be healed by the comfort of wood, while contributing to increasing thenumber of visitors.
The project boasts an exquisite set of subprograms carefully designed with every details: the waiting lounge presents convenience andcomfort for visitors; the beautiful and functional furniture is made of local wood using local technologies; and the student art program has
made the charm of wooden interiors visible even from the construction phase of the project.