(“Text as submitted by architect”)
Hiroyuki Unemori
Founder of UNEMORI ARCHITECTS, Hiroyuki Unemori was born in 1979 and completed his studies at the Yokohama National University in Tokyo, Japan in 2005. After working at TAIRA NISHIZAWA ARCHITECTS, Hiroyuki Unemori established UNEMORI ARCHITECTS in 2009. He holds lectures at various universities. His projects at UNEMORI ARCHITECTS have won numerous national and international awards, including the BCS Prize 61th, Japan, the AIJ Annual Architectural Design Commendation, Japan, the Record Houses 2015, USA or the AR House Outstanding Awards 2013, United Kingdom.
Practice Ideology
Unemori Architects is an architectural office based in central Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 2009 by Japanese architect Hiroyuki Unemori, UNEMORI ARCHITECTS aims to create diverse and complex spaces of every scale, thereby developing architecture that is small and simple, yet big and complex at the same time. The idea of opposing characteristics lies at the heart of UNEMORI ARCHITECTS’ architectural approach. Their work is characterized by complex structural layouts while maintaining a simple form, with projects ranging from delicate and intimate small-scale spaces to large scale public facilities. Major works by UNEMORI ARCHITECTS include “Smallhouse” (2010), “House Tokyo” (2019) and the “Sukagawa Community Center” (2018). As exemplified in their diverse projects, UNEMORI ARCHITECTS transcends conventional building typologies by merging opposing qualities like smallness and bigness, simplicity and complexity. In doing so, each project reacts to the local circumstances and provides a unique architectural solution for diverse uses and spatial demands. “When I think about architecture, I always focus on what scale would be most appropriate, how massive it should be, how many years it will take to build it, and to whom it will be delivered. This is the most fundamental approach I take as an architect, and also a way to participate in society as a human being”, says founder and architect Hiroyuki Unemori. The ability to deal with a wide range of scales is one of the major characteristics of UNEMORI ARCHITECTS’ work.
