Platinum A' Design Award Winner 2020
Beginning with overall orientation, you encounter a contemporary architectural pavilion photographed at twilight featuring an organically curved white roof hovering above transparent glass walls that enclose a luminous interior space, the structure floating on a pale stone platform surrounded by a dark reflecting pool that mirrors the building's warm golden glow, with shadowy trees framing the composition against a soft grey-blue evening sky. Scanning from left to right across the image, the left third presents the most voluminous portion of the undulating roof canopy, bulging upward and outward like a rising wave or billowing cloud, rendered in smooth matte material the color of pale slate or weathered pewter that feels cool to imagine touching, while below this sculptural ceiling plane you see floor-to-ceiling glass walls held by slender charcoal-toned frames creating transparent boundaries that reveal the interior completely. Moving toward the center, the most striking visual elements emerge as white sculptural columns or supports that taper as they rise from floor to ceiling, their surfaces glowing with warm amber light that suggests the color of honey illuminated from within or late afternoon sunlight filtered through translucent stone, creating a temperature sensation of gentle warmth radiating outward into the cool evening air, these vertical elements numbering perhaps six or seven visible from this viewpoint and reading as both structural supports and luminous ritual markers. The interior space they define contains what appears to be minimalist furnishing including simple rectangular forms that might be seating or altars, rendered in pale neutral tones that recede visually against the more dramatic lighting of the columns, while the floor appears to be smooth pale stone or polished concrete that feels cool and solid underfoot in imagination. The ceiling's interior surface curves downward between the glowing columns, creating organic pockets and valleys that appear softly illuminated by the same warm amber light, the surface texture seeming as smooth as stretched silk or polished plaster. Progressing rightward, the roof form descends and compresses, flowing in wavelike fashion toward a smaller pavilion volume at the right edge of the composition, this section maintaining the same material vocabulary and transparent enclosure but at a more intimate human scale. The platform upon which the entire structure rests appears constructed of pale cream-colored stone with slightly rough or aggregate texture that would feel grainy to touch, this horizontal plane elevated perhaps two feet above the surrounding water level and extending beyond the building's footprint to create an approach or terrace. The reflecting pool surrounding this platform reads as very still water, its surface a deep blue-black suggesting substantial depth or simply mirroring the darkening sky, and within this dark mirror you see perfect inverted reflections of the illuminated interior creating vertical symmetry that doubles the visual impact of the warm light against the cool atmosphere. Subtle illumination along the platform's edge creates a delicate line of light defining where stone meets water, suggesting the building floats weightlessly above its liquid surround. At the upper edges of the composition, dark tree silhouettes frame the scene, their organic irregular forms providing textural contrast to the building's refined smooth geometries, these trees appearing as black cutout shapes against the lighter grey-blue sky suggesting the presence of dense forest immediately surrounding this architectural clearing, and you might imagine the scent of trees, earth, and water in this quiet wooded setting, the atmosphere feeling still and hushed in the transitional moment between day and night when artificial light begins to outshine natural illumination and the building transforms from architectural object to luminous lantern within the landscape.
The Cloud of luster is a wedding chapel located inside a wedding ceremony hall in Himeji city, Japan. The design tries to translate the modern wedding ceremony spirit into physical space. The chapel is all white, a cloud shape enveloped almost entirely in curved glass opening it to the surrounding garden and water basin. The columns are toped in hyperbolic capital like heads smoothly connecting them to the minimalistic ceiling. The chapel socle on the basin side is a hyperbolic curve allowing the whole structure to appear as if it is floating on the water and accentuate its lightness.