2019 Winner: Water Garden

The first winner of the OBEL AWARD is the Art Biotop Water Garden project in Tochigi, Japan, by Junya Ishigami & Associates.

The first winner of the OBEL AWARD is the Art Biotop Water Garden project in Japan by Junya Ishigami & Associates. The winner was announced today at a ceremony at The Utzon Center in Aalborg, Denmark.

Martha Schwartz, Chair of the Jury, says:

»Ishigami’s architecture is the architecture of space, not of object, which is a departure from conventional architecture. He discards the idea of architecture as a built, utilitarian structure by reversing the business-as-usual process, which is: building first, landscape second – if at all. Instead, with the project ‘Water Garden’, Ishigami leaves us wondering: is this architecture, landscape architecture, or art?«

“Ishigami’s architecture is the architecture of space, not of object.”