Project of the Year – International
Recognising and celebrating the new-build building that most effectively demonstrates high levels of user satisfaction and comfort while delivering outstanding measured building performance.
Winner: DaiyaGate Ikebukuro – NIKKEN SEKKEI
In a high-quality category, Nikken Sekkei’s DaiyaGate Ikebukuro office building in Japan was named international Project of the Year.
The judges admitted it was very hard to find a winner from among the ‘excellent standard of entries’, and they would have highly commended all the shortlisted projects if possible.
Ultimately, however, Nikken Sekkei’s multidimensional approach to building performance, in which whole-building use was considered, tipped the scales in its favour. Despite being a very complex project, the judges said performance had been a key driver in the design, and the project was a great example of a ‘digital twin’.
DaiyaGate Ikebukuro is the first tall air rights office building in Japan to be built over railway tracks and it is directly connected to and constructed over Tokyo’s Ikebukuro Station, the third busiest station in the world.
With the city having more than a 70% chance of experiencing an earthquake of magnitude 7 or greater within the next 30 years, the building had to be made capable of providing refuge for up to 85,000 people, which it does for three days.
The MEP design had to achieve robust seismic resilience and redundancy, effective and flexible office space, occupant comfort, energy conservation, large floor plates and high environmental performance.
Part of the solution was the development of a new perimeter through-wall-unit (TWU), using exhaust heat recovery, for independent cooling/heating and ventilation of each office area to improve comfort and air quality.
Actual primary energy consumption was reduced by about 50% compared to a baseline building. For September 2019 to August 2020 – with a tenant occupancy rate of 100% – it was 1,043 MJ/m2/year. The average for office buildings in Tokyo is 1,814MJ/m2/year.
The chilled water storage tank assists cooling demand during summer peak hours, so the peak power demand of the whole building is very low, at 38W/m2.
Project Team
Building Services Consultant, Project Manager, Quantity Surveyor and Architect: NIKKEN SEKKEI LTD
Building Owner: Seibu Group
Building Occupier: Multi Tenant/Seibu Holdings, SEIBU Properties, NTT DOCOMO etc
Brief Consultant: NIKKEN SEKKEI Research Institute
Interior Designer: NIKKEN SEKKEI Ltd, KOKUYO Co.,Ltd
Mechanical/Electrical Engineering Contractor: Kyudenko Corporation/Kandenko
Main Contractor: Obayashi Corporation; Seibu Construction Co. Ltd.
Developer: Seibu Properties
Facilities Manager: KOWA Real Estate Facilities Co., Ltd.
Evaluation:Tokyo Metropolitan University,Institute of Technologists
Highly Commended
Monash Gillies Hall – AECOM
Shortlist
Amorepacific HQ – Arup
The House at Cornell Tech - BuroHappold