Results Announced for the “1st Tsunagi Competition,” a Student Idea Contest for Solving Social Issues Using Wood
~Three entries addressing the themes of “Foliage Damage Caused by Nara’s Deer,” “Neglected Plantations in Niigata’s Heavy Snowfall Areas,” and “Replacing Concrete Retaining Walls with Wood” Received Excellence Awards~

Nikken Sekkei Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director President and CEO: Atsushi Omatsu) is pleased to announce that, in collaboration with ArchiTech Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture; Representative Director: Takuya Ito), it has held the “1st Tsunagi Competition: ‘Creating Mochi (Forest + City)’” and selected three winners for the Excellence Award.

In Japan, where two-thirds of the land is covered by forests, the artificial forests planted after World War II are now reaching maturity, and the appropriate use of domestically produced timber is being called for from the perspectives of forest resource management and land conservation.On October 1, the amended Act on the Promotion of Wood Utilization came into effect to promote the use of wood in general buildings as part of efforts to achieve a decarbonized society, and October was designated as “Wood Utilization Promotion Month.”

To advance sustainable forest management and timber utilization, it is crucial to consider “where and how timber is utilized.” Therefore, as an initiative to broaden the scope of timber use—conceived by Nikken Wood Lab at Nikken Sekkei—this competition was organized to solicit student-led ideas based on the “Mochi” philosophy, where forests and cities connect,share challenges together, and translate them into action. We have organized this competition to solicit student-led ideas based on this “Mochi” perspective and to collaborate on and support efforts to bring these ideas to fruition.

Nikken Sekkei is a group of experts dedicated to pioneering social and environmental design and delivering enriching experiences to society and its people. We aim to create a society in which the diverse ideas and connections born from this competition will help raise awareness of forests, foster the next generation of leaders in the forestry and timber industries, and steadily increase the number of people engaged in co-creation related to “mochi.”

Thank you very much for awarding us the Excellence Award. We are truly delighted that our proposed “Childcare Tree” will be brought to life in the city. We are also grateful for this opportunity to see our idea realized while we are still students, and we intend to do our very best while learning as much as we can.
As more “Child-Rearing Trees” are planted throughout the city, we hope that these small urban trees will grow healthily with the help of the forest’s trees and human care. Eventually, they will become large trees that serve as places of rest for people and bring vibrancy to the city. We aim to bring the “Child-Rearing Tree” project to life with the hope that the city will become a place overflowing with lush greenery and vitality.

Not only did I propose a product design that utilizes “connectors” to solve the local issue of “deer damage in Nara” while faithfully adhering to the concept embodied in the title, but I also suggested cultivation methods—such as “How can we nurture the young trees we’re protecting?”—and“creating mechanisms for local residents to cherish street trees,” and “ensuring the design can be easily adjusted to fit even when the trees have grown large”—all of which leverage the advantages of the “Tsuna-ki” system.
Since it is almost certain to be less expensive than erecting sturdy metal supports, I believe this proposal offers cost benefits to those considering its adoption. First and foremost, I would like to support its implementation in Nara. After that, I can envision this concept spreading further as we identify challenges related to street trees and park trees nationwide and develop “Child-Guard Trees” designs tailored to address them.
As the operator of the Hanamaki Toy Museum—an experiential facility dedicated to wood education—I believe we can conduct workshops with local children and museum visitors through the National Toy Museum Network (scheduled to include 13 museums by 2023) to use these “Tsuna-gi” to protect street trees on museum grounds and in nearby areas.
I hope that in the near future, the idea that “we protect the trees in our own communities with ‘Tsuna-gi’” will become a new standard in Japan, and I am committed to working toward that goal.

Thank you very much for this prestigious award. Since our usual research focuses on urban spaces, we entered this competition with the aim of presenting an interdisciplinary concept that, while set in an urban context, also extended to include Moriyama. We are pleased that we were able to find a common language in civil engineering, which led to the proposal of a new model that leverages the unique characteristics of Tsunagi-ki.
We would also like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the judges for their practical feedback and comments acknowledging the project’s potential. We intend to refine the construction methods and structural design through repeated revisions to enhance the project’s feasibility. We were able to gain a broad range of insights about forests, forestry, and wood from the other entries as well; it was a competition that was enjoyable simply to participate in. Thank you very much.

I believe this proposal holds great potential for transforming the artificial and sterile civil engineering landscapes found throughout every corner of Japan into a “softer form of civil engineering” that is closer to nature.In urban areas, there are numerous locations—such as parks and residential neighborhoods—where there are differences in elevation, and roads in mountainous regions are lined with retaining walls and slopes of various sizes. I believe it would be truly groundbreaking if we could start by experimenting and implementing this approach on small elevation differences and eventually develop it into a method suitable for full-scale civil engineering projects.
Furthermore, by establishing logistics routes for timber from forestry sites, we can utilize large quantities of wood, making this a viable outlet for the effective use of forest resources. By using the offcuts from lumber production as planks for the base of retaining walls, it would be possible to utilize every part of a log without waste.I look forward to working with all of you to pool our wisdom and realize the potential of these street-corner retaining walls that connect the forest and the city.

Thank you very much for this wonderful award. Participating in this competition gave me the opportunity to learn about and confront the issues facing our forests. It was extremely meaningful simply to be exposed to fields of study beyond architecture, but I am most delighted to have been given this opportunity to have my proposal recognized and to receive support for bringing it to fruition.
Compared to the proposals submitted by others, my proposal requires the cooperation of a wide variety of people in terms of feasibility, and I will need to further refine it by listening to the insights of experts. This is something I could never achieve on my own.Even if it takes a long time, I intend to continue working diligently to help create a foundation for a future where people help the forest just as the forest helps people—a future where people can visit the forest just as easily as they visit the city for recreation. Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the judges and the organizing committee for their dedicated efforts. Thank you very much.

Although forests and our way of life have a long history together, there are still many things we need to research or simply do not yet understand about forests, trees, and the ways in which forests and human life support one another.
I believe this proposal, “Neakeru, Mori,” will serve as an opportunity to observe the current state of the forest and create a catalyst for people to venture into it. Moving forward, I hope that by taking even small steps toward putting this into practice and making it a reality, we can create spaces where people can gain a deeper understanding of the forest.

<Special Jury Prize>
・	“Hugging Wall—Tsunagi-ki’s Temporary Fence That Connects and Envelops Forests, Cities, and Construction Sites” Rina Sugimoto and Noriko Okamoto, First-Year Graduate Students, The University of Tokyo
・	"Harmony with Wood: Designing Distribution Through Wood Drying and Saunas" Kosuke Okuhira and Meina Kobayashi, 4th-year students at Nihon University
<Tsuna-gi Award>
・	"Re:Create Garage — The Origin That Connects the Town and the Forest" Tokai University, 4th-year students: Akihiro Iwata, Fumito Ohoshi, Yūsuke Sugaya, Kazumasa Ōgata
・	"To Love and Be Loved." First-year graduate students at Shibaura Institute of Technology: Motoki Mizoguchi, Yuki Kasai, Rena Matsudo, Miu Tanaka, Yuma Tamura, Yosuke Sugai, Hitomi Fukuniwa
・	"A Life Log of a House Recorded with Tsunagi" First-Year Graduate Students, Shibaura Institute of Technology: Takuto Kitagawa, Naoki Toyosaki, Shun Yoshida, Misaki Yonobe, Hayato Yoshimura, Kira Muto, Yuya Hasegawa
・	"Kiori-cho" First-year graduate student at Tokyo University of the Arts: Zhang Yao, Yō Shiyō
・	"The Calendar of Cycles" Wataru Kashiwagi and Eiki Yada, First-Year Graduate Students, Hosei University
・	"Desk Connection" Kana Watanabe, Junior, Showa Women’s University
・	"Connecting the Past: Preserving Forests and Towns Through Timber" Keisuke Imoto and Mizuho Endo, First-Year Graduate Students, Kyushu University

Operations	：	Organized by: Tsunagi Competition Executive Committee (Nikken Sekkei Ltd. and ArchiTech Co., Ltd.) Supported by: Forestry Agency, Japan Federation of Young and Middle-Aged Timber Industry Organizations In cooperation with: Hirotsugu Ota, Full-time Lecturer, Musashino University
Judges	：	<Judges> Yasuhiro Kotomo (Representative Director, Kotomo Lumber Co., Ltd.) Yushi Okuda (Director, Yamato-wa Co., Ltd.) Hidetoshi Sawa (Representative, Sawa Hidetoshi Design & Environment / SAWADEE; Secretariat, NPO Katsu Energy Academy) Asako Nagano (Standing Executive Director, NPO Manufacturing, Life, and Civilization Organization; Former Director of the Timber Utilization Division, Forestry Agency) Tomohiko Yamanashi (Nikken Sekkei Ltd., Chief Design Officer, Senior Executive Officer) <Moderator> Takuya Oba (Lab Leader, Nikken Wood Lab, Nikken Sekkei Ltd.)
Eligibility Requirements	：	Students enrolled in universities, graduate schools, junior colleges, technical colleges, vocational schools (various types of schools), high schools, and other institutions as of April 1, 2021

ArchiTech is an architecture-focused startup founded by CEO Takuya Ito while he was on leave from the graduate school at Kyoto University’s Faculty of Engineering, Department of Architecture, with the mission to “realize a world where beloved architecture continues to be created.”Guided by this mission, the company operates several businesses, including BEAVER—a service for architecture students; BEAVER CAREER—a matching service connecting architecture students with architecture firms; and THE PERS—a studio specializing in architectural CG imagery and 3D modeling. In addition, ArchiTech is engaged in a joint research project with Kyoto University focused on the visualization and quantification of design evaluation.

Nikkensetsu is a professional services firm engaged in architectural design and supervision, urban design, and related research, planning, and consulting services.Upholding our core philosophy of “contributing to society through valuable work,” we have been committed to creating a better social environment for 120 years since our founding in 1900, striving to meet the needs of society and the diverse requests of our clients.We have been involved in a wide range of projects in Japan, China, ASEAN, and the Middle East, and in recent years have expanded our operations to India, Russia, and Europe.

Nikken Wood Lab was launched in 2018 as part of Nikken Sekkei’s New Business Pilot Project (an in-house venture competition) as a challenge to expand beyond the design business and promote the use of wood.In addition to working on timber-frame construction, we are dedicated to developing products using materials unsuitable for buildings and exploring innovative ways to utilize materials that foster connections with local communities, bringing these ideas to life.
Wood Lab Representative: Takuya Oba (Innovation Design Group, New Business Development Division)

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