Design Lecture 2025
o+h Maki Onishi + Yuki Hyakuta | Event Report

Event name: Design Lecture 2025
"A Living Whole" by Maki Onishi and Yuki Hyakuta/o+h
Date: September 2025, 8 (Friday) 1:17-30:19
Venue: Kyushu University Ito Campus

The BeCAT Design Lecture is a public lecture series inviting leading experts in architecture and design to share design theories and methodologies. The aim is to develop ideas, planning, and design skills, from how to perceive problems to approaches to solving them.

The speakers this time were the architect duo Onishi Maki + Hyakuta Yuki / o+h, who have been attracting attention since their student days. They spoke about their past work and their latest projects, and the theme was "living whole."

At the beginning, Professor Suehiro, Deputy Director of BeCAT, spoke about how the two first met. He talked about how Onishi won first place in the Fukuoka Student Design Review when he was a fourth-year university student, and how they subsequently worked together in a workshop to design and realize the folly in Island City Central Park.

Architectural practice exploring the "living whole"

The two began their careers by supporting the reconstruction efforts of temporary housing following the Great East Japan Earthquake. They realized the importance of creating architecture together with the people of the town, and now work daily to weave the relationship between the community and architecture in their office located on the street of Nihonbashi.

A space that "accepts and values ​​differences"

The first project introduced was the Good Job Center in Nara Prefecture, a project to create a "base for creating jobs in society" together with people with disabilities.
Sharing the client's philosophy of "accepting and valuing differences," we conceived a space that everyone could feel comfortable in. By using the geometric rule of arranging the walls in a staggered pattern, but allowing for the rule to be "broken," we created a diverse space.
The Plover Wall has the ability to both separate and connect, and through this experience, he says, it was an opportunity to learn more about what it means to think inclusively.

Next, they introduced a variety of projects, including the Taga Town Central Community Center, which used locally produced timber to dry for two and a half years and engaged in extensive dialogue with local residents, and the Kumamoto Earthquake Museum KIOKU, which reconnects architecture with the town's natural environment and earthquake relics. They each spoke carefully from their own perspective about the people, landscapes, and realizations they encountered through architecture.

Finding multiple meanings in one thing

The "Shelter Inclusive Copal," which won the Architectural Institute of Japan Award, was also introduced. Tetsuya Fukuda, a design assistant at BeCAT, was also involved in this project.
An all-weather, inclusive playground will be built at the foot of the Zao mountain range in Yamagata. The concept is to "discover multiple meanings in one thing," and the wheelchair ramp becomes a "hill to run up" for children, the benches become xylophones... the overlapping functions have created a space that a variety of users can enjoy in their own way.

For the Osaka-Kansai Expo's "Rest Area 1," we used deadstock fabric to create a "living piece of architecture" that would last for only six months. The cool hammocks in the festive space, swaying with the wind and light, were a huge hit with the children. For the Sakurajima Compulsory Education School, which is currently under construction, we are incorporating the topography of Mt. Ontake and Kinko Bay as a learning landscape, and are building a separate school building that embodies the Gochu education culture through repeated dialogue with the local community.

Thoughts on architecture and the vision of society in the future

The lecture also covered o+h's architectural philosophy and approach to projects. The venue was attended by many members of the public as well as students, and the Q&A session was lively.

To students who said they felt impatient in their architecture classes, Mr. Momota offered words of encouragement: "Architecture is a skill that can be mastered over time. You can wait until you're 70 to become pessimistic." Mr. Onishi also offered words of encouragement: "There are many ways to get into architecture. You can start with what you're good at."

BeCAT instructor Yu Momoe commented that the pair's architecture "exquisitely balances poetic ideas with technical accuracy," and spoke of the power of collaboration as a unit.

Finally, showing a graph of population trends, Momota said, "We may be at the beginning of a period of change comparable to the Meiji Restoration." Using welfare as an example, he emphasized the role of "creating spaces within towns where everyone can gather" and "envisioning a new society and prosperous lifestyles through architecture" within a system that tends to be fragmented. He concluded his lecture by reiterating this role.

Maki Onishi + Yuki Hyakuta / o+h
Both graduated from the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University, and after completing their master's programs, they began working as Onishi Maki + Hyakuta Yuki / o+h in 2008. Their major works include Shelter Inclusive Place Copal (2022), Kumamoto Earthquake Museum KIOKU (2023), Good Job! Center KASHIBA (2016), and more. Their major awards include the 2023 Architectural Institute of Japan Award for Best Design, the 34th Murano Togo Award, the 64th BCS Award, and the 2024 JIA Japan Architecture Grand Prize.

Event name: Design Lecture 2025 | o+h Maki Onishi/Yuki Hyakuta "A Living Whole"　

Date and time: Friday, August 1, 2025, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Format: Open to the public
Venue: Kyushu University Ito Campus East Building 1, Large Lecture Room II
Target audience: Kyushu University students, members of the public interested in architectural education, students and members of the public interested in learning at BeCAT
Participating faculty: Kaori Suehiro (Vice Director), Hirokazu Suemitsu (Design Lab Director), Moriko Kira (Professor in charge), Masaru Momoe (Associate Professor in charge)