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August 20, 2026
New possibilities for urban living, reimagined by a youthful sensibility.
DESIGN｜Faith Design Competition 2026
What new value can be created in urban apartment buildings through the power of architecture? — The results of the "Faith Design Competition 2026," aimed at young architects and students, have been announced, with a total of nine works selected from the General Division U-45 and the Student Division U-25. This year saw 1,557 entries, with 272 works submitted. Proposals were gathered that captured light, wind, greenery, and the relationship with the city from multiple perspectives.
Text by OPENERS ｜Photograph by Faithnetwork
Nine Award-Winning Works Decided
Faith Network Inc., the organizer, plans and develops new RC apartment buildings for investment, primarily in the "Jonan 3 Wards" of Setagaya, Meguro, and Shibuya. They have established a "one-stop service" that handles everything from land acquisition to design, construction, leasing, property sales, and post-completion management, having undertaken over 300 properties to date. Their business extends beyond real estate to include construction and a Class 1 architect office.
This competition, held by the company to commemorate its 25th anniversary, is not merely about awarding excellent ideas. It is an "Implementation Competition" for a rental RC apartment building planned for construction in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. The Grand Prize winner in the General Division will receive not only a 10 million yen prize but also the opportunity to design a real project for the company's apartment brand, "GranDuo." The clear objective is to discover talented young designers and bring their work into the city as actual constructions.
A Judging System Combining Practical and Cultural Perspectives
The judging panel was chaired by Yuko Nagayama, an architect who leads Yuko Nagayama & Associates. Since establishing her own firm in 2002, she has undertaken projects spanning commercial, cultural, and public spaces, including the "Teshima Yokoo Museum," "JINS PARK Maebashi," and the exterior and partial interior of the Tokyu Kabukicho Tower. She is known for her work that carefully reweaves the relationship between the environment and people, transcending the scale and purpose of architecture.
Nagayama pointed out that considering apartment buildings is directly linked to considering urban communities. Amidst diversifying lifestyles and varying degrees of proximity between people and the city, she emphasized the need for attractive residences that suit "specific desired occupants," rather than uniform housing applicable to everyone. She also expressed anticipation for challenging proposals that reconsider the relationship between private ownership and shared spaces, and present the richness that can be gained from living together.
The judging panel included Tatsushi Ogawa, architect and representative of 16-architects; Makoto Tanijiri, architect and co-principal of SUPPOSE DESIGN OFFICE; and Makoto Yokomizo, architect and professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, representing aat+yokomizo architects.
Ogawa is a practitioner involved in the architecture and interiors of residences, commercial facilities, and hotels. Tanijiri founded SUPPOSE DESIGN OFFICE in 2000 and has been involved in designing residences, shops, and complex facilities, as well as engaging in activities that span business and architecture. Yokomizo established his own firm in 2001 after working at Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects, and received the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize for his work on the "Fumihiro Museum," among other achievements in a wide range of projects from residences to public buildings and urban spaces.
Furthermore, Jiro Hachiya, President of Faith Network Inc., participated as a judge from the organizing side, with Keiji奥, Senior Executive Officer and Director, and Yasuhiro Kuno, Executive Officer, also involved in the preliminary screening.
This judging system combines the spatial and cultural evaluations of architects with the perspective of the business owner who acquires land, constructs buildings, and manages them. It is thought that emphasis was placed not only on originality but also on the potential for the architecture to be viable as urban rental housing and to maintain its value over time.
General Division Grand Prize Awarded to "Breathing Oasis"
The Grand Prize in the General Division U-45 was awarded to "Breathing Oasis" by Daisuke Hattori and Saori Hattori (MIDW). The concept of a "breathing oasis," as indicated by the title, suggests a perspective that views the building not as a closed box, but as a residence that welcomes light, wind, and greenery, and responds to the urban environment. It can be seen as a proposal that connects the competition's themes of "light, wind, greenery, and materials" with the practical conditions of urban housing.
The Excellence Award went to "Sky Frame Window—A Window That Transcends Floor Height" by Yuki Uzuki, Shun Imaki, and Kotaro Yamanaka, and "Living with the Woods of Kyodo—GRANDUO KYODO no MORI" by Takedai Hayashiama, Hiroki Minoura, Keisuke Shinohara, and Shun Suzuki.
The former suggests the possibility of connecting light, views, and residents' awareness vertically by not confining the "window," a fundamental element of architecture, to each floor. The latter proposes incorporating trees and external spaces as part of daily life, with the town of Kyodo as its backdrop. Both share a perspective of nurturing the value of a residence in conjunction with its surroundings, rather than focusing solely on the form of the building itself.
The Honorable Mentions were awarded to three works: "DEPTH OF THE FAÇADE, WHERE LIGHT MEETS WIND.," "A Residence Opening Diagonally," and "A Place in the Anonymous City." Each work re-examines the conventional form of apartment buildings from a different angle: the idea of creating depth in the building's facade, a configuration that opens up living spaces diagonally, and an attempt to create a place in a city where individual presence can easily be lost.
Rethinking "Boundaries" from a Student's Perspective
The Grand Prize in the Student Division U-25 was awarded to "Room, Veranda, Balcony__→" by Shota Murakami of the Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School. The title, connecting room, veranda, and balcony with an arrow, suggests a proposal that reinterprets these spaces not as separate entities but as a continuous living area, blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor.
The Excellence Award in the Student Division went to "House Shaping Tokyo" by Ryoya Ishii, Yusei Tominaga, and Naho Tamura of Y-GSA, Yokohama National University Graduate School. The title implies a perspective that views a single residence not as a self-contained private space, but as a component that contributes to the character of Tokyo as a city when aggregated. The Honorable Mention was awarded to "House Wrapped in a Garden" by Takashi Nishimura and Kokoro Hagiwara of Shibaura Institute of Technology Graduate School. Their concept positions the garden not as empty space, but as an environment that envelops the home and daily life, making it a striking proposal.
The award-winning works highlight a tendency to reconstruct the "boundaries" of natural environments like light, wind, and greenery, as well as those between inside and outside, private and shared spaces, and individuals and the city. This aligns with the idea presented by judging chairperson Nagayama of apartment buildings that accommodate diverse lifestyles and varying degrees of proximity between people.
The combination of free concepts from young designers, the evaluation by leading architects, and the business foundation of Faith Network, which handles everything from land acquisition to design, construction, and management, gives these award-winning proposals the potential to transform actual streets and lives, rather than remaining mere ideas on paper. "Faith Design Competition 2026" serves not only as a venue for discovering next-generation talent but also as a starting point for implementing new values in urban housing into society.
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Faith Design Competition