"Station West Housing: Futaba Station West Area Disaster Public Housing Development Project" won the Good Design Award 2025
The Station West Housing: Futaba Station West Area Disaster Public Housing Development Project (Futaba Town, Fukushima Prefecture), which PACIFIC CONSULTANTS CO., LTD. (Address: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President Executive Officer: Osamu OMOTO) was involved in designing, has been awarded the Good Design Award 2025 (sponsored by Japan Institute of Design Promotion).
The Good Design Award is Japan's only comprehensive design evaluation and recommendation system, which started in 1957, and has been widely known with the "G Mark" for more than 60 years to improve our lives and society through design.
GOOD DESIGN AWARD
About the "Station West Housing: The West Area Futaba Station Disaster Public Housing Development Project"
This project involves the construction of 86 public housing units (disaster public housing and renovated rental housing) in the area west of Futaba Station, which was designated as a "specific reconstruction and revitalization base area" among the difficult-to-return areas following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. The aim was to create a town where returnees and new residents could blend in seamlessly with the town, with all the units having earthen-floored entrances and large roofed outdoor spaces that connect the units.
Top row: Photo by Yoshiyuki Chiba
Bottom right, bottom left: photo by Kenya Chiba
Design Points
① A base camp for town development from scratch that will pave the way for the future of Futaba Town
② The ambiguous middle ground that encourages natural communication between people
3) Cultivating a "hometown landscape" nestled in the valley topography
Comments from Good Design Award Judges
The project involves the construction of disaster public housing and renovated rental housing in areas that were deemed difficult to return to following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The layout and architectural style embody the idea of people living together and supporting each other in order to take a new step forward. The project presents the ideal form of a modern town, with a location in front of the station and a housing structure that can accommodate both returnees and new residents, while also attempting to create a "new yet nostalgic" landscape that blends in with the valley's topography.