First Place Winner
Water Remembrance
Design by
Tatsuto Ibuka, Suzuka Namiki, Moreno Carreon Ximena Montserr, Lea Poncet & Satsuki Simizu, Louloua Maad
Juror’s Comment:
A beautifully articulated and immersive proposal that uses water as both a spatial and pedagogical element. The integration of history, environment, and community is exceptional, creating a strong identity and a memorable learning experience rooted in context.
Work on:
The concept is powerful, the design could further clarify functional zoning and circulation efficiency, particularly in relation to water elements, to ensure ease of use and maintenance in everyday operation.
Tatsuto Ibuka, Suzuka Namiki, Moreno Carreon Ximena Montserr, Lea Poncet & Satsuki Simizu, Louloua Maad
Suzuka Namiki
Suzuka Namiki is a fourth-year architecture student at Chiba University, Japan. Her research examines how spatial design influences the way people learn and work.
Satsuki Shimizu
Satsuki Shimizu is an undergraduate student at Chiba University, Japan, studying architectural planning. His research primarily focuses on the relationship between local communities and their residents.
Louloua Maad
Louloua Maad is a second-year master’s student in architecture. Having grown up in Beirut, a city marked by layers of destruction and reconstruction, it shaped her understanding of architecture as something deeply tied to memory and to the identity carried within the built environment.
Having completed the entirety of her academic curriculum at École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-La Villette she developed a sensitivity to cultural context, seeing architecture not as an object detached from its surroundings, but as something inseparable from the particularities of a place. Being part of such an internationally oriented school, and having had the opportunity to work in Ecuador, Indonesia, Thailand, and Japan through workshops, humanitarian projects, and academic exchange programs have also led her to gradually develop an approach to architecture grounded in human experience.
Ximena Moreno Carreon
Ximena Moreno is a senior bachelor’s architecture student at the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, Mexico. She is passionate about architecture as a medium for shaping atmosphere, emotion, and human connection through thoughtful spatial experiences. Her academic work explores themes of simplicity, shadow, materiality, and contextual sensitivity, with a particular interest in functional design, central spatial schemes, and curved architectural forms. She approaches design as a balance between functionality, emotion, and spatial harmony, creating environments that feel meaningful, intuitive, and deeply connected to their context.
Léa Poncet
Léa Poncet is a Swiss architectural designer currently completing her Master’s degree at the Joint Master of Architecture in Fribourg, Switzerland. Her path began with training as a building drafter, followed by a Bachelor’s degree at HEIA-FR, where she developed a strong technical and constructive foundation rooted in the Swiss architectural tradition.
Alongside her Master’s studies, Léa has enriched her education through professional experience in a small architectural office and an academic exchange at Chiba University in Japan. During this exchange, she participated in the development of the project Water Remembrance, an experience that deepened her interest in the relationships between architecture, memory, landscape, and social interaction.
Through theoretical input, professional practice, and intercultural experiences, Léa has progressively developed a vision of architecture as a social infrastructure capable of fostering human interaction, inclusion, and a sense of belonging. Her approach seeks to design spaces that are deeply rooted in their context, attentive to environmental challenges, and conceived as places of encounter, learning, and exchange.
Tatsuto Ibuka
Tatsuto Ibuka is a fourth-year undergraduate architecture student at Chiba University, Japan. His academic work focuses on architecture rooted in nature and the local context, with a primary research interest in the aesthetic and tectonic design of wooden structures. We met during an international studio held at Chiba University and formed a team to tackle this competition. In this project, I aimed to propose architecture that unravels the context of the site, harmonizing nature with the built environment while analyzing the surrounding region from a broader, macro perspective.
Celebrating Creativity & Vision
Winner’s Spotlight: An Exclusive Interview
Discover the story behind the victory — from concept to creation.
1. Concept & Interpretation
What was the central idea behind your proposal, and how did you interpret the theme “Schools as Anchors of Society” within your architectural vision?
Before starting the design process, we first tried to deeply understand the context and the main challenges of the site. We noticed that the area contains many educational institutions such as high schools, nurseries, universities, as well as elderly centers, but there are very few intergenerational meeting spaces that truly connect these different users together. At the same time, the district is highly industrialized and lacks green public spaces. Another important issue was environmental. Sumida is a low-lying area surrounded by rivers, making it vulnerable to flooding. During heavy rain, the drainage systems often cannot absorb all the water, which causes flooding throughout the neighborhood.
However, the project truly began to take shape once we researched the history of the site. During the Edo period, this area was originally composed of rice fields and canals and was once known as “The Water Island.” Over time, many of these waterways disappeared because of urban development and flood-control infrastructure.We aimed to preserve the memory and identity of this place by reinterpreting the presence of water within the architectural experience, more specifically through the remembrance of an old canal that once connected important points of the neighborhood, from canals to temples and even to the Tokyo Skytree. Rather than treating water as only a visual element, we transformed it into a learning medium that can be experienced through light, sound, touch, and movement.
When interpreting the theme “Schools as Anchors of Society”, we understood the school not only as a place for education, but also as a social and cultural infrastructure capable of reconnecting communities to their history and environment.
2. Schools as Community Hubs
Your proposal reimagines schools beyond their conventional educational role. How does your design function as a shared community space that encourages social interaction, cultural engagement, and collective participation?
Our proposal functions as a hybrid between a school and a community center. We wanted the project to remain active beyond school hours and welcome different generations, backgrounds, and users throughout the day.
The program includes a nursery that was already present on the site and which we reintegrated into the project, libraries for both children and adults with visual connections between the spaces, exhibition galleries, cafés, outdoor terraces, shared gardens, and traditional craft workshops where knowledge can be transmitted from generation to generation. These different programs encourage interactions between students, residents, craftsmen, families, artists, tourists, and elderly people.
At the center of the school, we envisioned a shared piazza inspired by the idea of interconnected islands. This central space acts as the social heart of the project, where informal interactions, gatherings, and collective activities can happen naturally.
3. Inclusivity & Accessibility
How did you address inclusivity and accessibility within your design to ensure that people of different age groups, backgrounds, and community needs can engage with the space?
Inclusivity and accessibility were important aspects of our proposal. More than simply creating a functional school, we wanted to design a place where different people could naturally coexist and interact throughout the day.
This intention is reflected in the openness of the project itself. The visual continuity between interior and exterior spaces, the multiple entrances, and the fluid pathways allow the site to feel less like a closed institution and more like an extension of the neighborhood.
Accessibility was approached not only in a functional sense, through ramps, elevators, and a unified circulation system that makes the project easy to navigate, but also through a sensory experience of architecture. Rather than relying only on visual perception, we wanted the space to be experienced through water, vegetation, textures, sounds, and natural light. One of the galleries, for example, was specifically conceived in response to the visually impaired center located near the site. In this space, sound created by water and tactile experiences through wood engraving and textured materials become part of the architectural experience itself.
4. Spatial Flexibility & Adaptability
Adaptability was an important aspect of the competition brief. How does your proposal accommodate diverse activities, events, and evolving community requirements throughout the year?
Adaptability was another central aspect of our proposal because communities and educational needs are constantly evolving. The classrooms were designed as modular spaces that can be rearranged depending on different uses and activities. The galleries also use movable partitions, allowing them to host exhibitions, performances, workshops, or community events. The outdoor spaces and the central piazza can accommodate different types of activities throughout the year, such as festivals, markets, open-air learning activities, or public gatherings.
Water accompanies each of these spaces and can be interpreted differently depending on the activity, sometimes as a contemplative element, sometimes as a refreshing space, a playground, or even a working environment.
5. Educational & Social Impact
In what ways does your design strengthen the relationship between education and community development? What kind of social impact do you envision your proposal creating?
The project also aims to strengthen the relationship between education and community development by making learning visible and accessible in everyday life. We believe education should not remain isolated inside classrooms. Through the different programs, especially the traditional craft workshops that were very important during the Edo period and are progressively disappearing today due to the aging population, the project encourages informal learning and intergenerational exchange. The school therefore becomes a place where people not only gain academic knowledge, but also reconnect with local culture and with one another, creating a stronger sense of belonging. Socially, we hope the project can foster stronger community bonds and create a sense of shared responsibility within the neighborhood.
6. Sustainability & Environmental Response
How did you incorporate sustainable design strategies into your proposal? Please share how elements such as material selection, energy efficiency, green spaces, or environmental responsiveness contributed to the project.
Sustainability was integrated both technically and conceptually into the project. Firstly, water management played a major role in the design. Rainwater is collected, filtered, and reused through visible rooftop terraces and water systems, allowing the water cycle itself to become part of the educational experience. Environmental performance was also addressed through photovoltaic panels, green roofs, shaded outdoor spaces, and natural ventilation strategies in order to reduce energy consumption and improve thermal comfort.
In terms of materiality, the structure uses a wooden post-and-beam system combined with earth-based concrete cores to reduce environmental impact associated with traditional cement construction. Natural vegetation and water elements were carefully integrated throughout the site to improve biodiversity, thermal comfort, and strengthen the relationship between architecture and nature.
We also considered adaptability itself as a form of sustainability, since the spaces are conceived to evolve with changing social contexts and therefore extend the lifespan of the project.
7. Architectural Experience & Identity
How did you balance functionality with architectural expression? What kind of spatial atmosphere or emotional experience were you aiming to create for students and the wider community?
The project is conceived as a series of islands connected by bridges that span through open green corridors, offering visual connections toward different interior spaces, whether the café, the galleries, or the workshops, all converging toward the central shared piazza where these islands interconnect.
One of our main intentions was to preserve a sense of discovery throughout the project. We wanted visitors to gradually experience the architecture rather than understand everything at once. For this reason, the exterior façades only reveal partial glimpses of the interior spaces, creating curiosity and inviting people further inside. As visitors move through the open pathways toward the center of the project, the spaces progressively become more visible and open. In that sense, the central piazza acts almost as the climax of the spatial experience, where all the visual and social connections finally come together. The idea was to create an architectural journey that transports visitors from one atmosphere to another while constantly revealing different sceneries along the way.
This promenade is mainly guided by water and light. In one of the galleries, for example, a central patio creates a waterfall effect, where water falling from the roof interacts with natural light and casts evolving shadows and reflections onto the ground, subtly guiding visitors through the space. To strengthen this relationship between light and water, the façades are mainly composed of glass bricks that filter daylight and recreate patterns similar to water reflections, reinforcing the calm and atmosphere of the project.
8. The Future of Educational Spaces
How do you believe architecture can redefine the future role of schools within cities and communities? What changes do you think are necessary in the way educational spaces are designed today?
When we think of schools today, we often imagine enclosed classrooms and buildings disconnected from the life happening around them. We believe architecture can completely redefine that role.
A school should not only function as a place for formal education, but as a space that actively participates in the city and creates relationships between people who can learn from one another. By creating environments that encourage encounters and social interaction, architecture can open new ways of learning and rethink the educational experience itself.
Schools today are also often too rigid and disconnected from the reality of an evolving society. In the future, educational spaces should become more flexible and capable of adapting over time, allowing them to respond to changing social, environmental, and educational needs.
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