Hoshino Architects - Reimei Kobashi Wins the Architecture MasterPrize 2025 - Chuo City - Japan

2026-02-02

Reimei Kobashi, a pedestrian bridge located in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, has been awarded Winner in the “ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN Infrastructure” category at the Architecture MasterPrize 2025, an international award recognizing excellence in architectural design. Hoshino Architects Inc. served as the Master Design Architect for the project.

The Architecture MasterPrize is a global architecture award recognizing design excellence and advancing appreciation for quality architectural design.

In 2025, the Architecture MasterPrize received submissions from 72 countries, reflecting the global reach of the program. This recognition marks Hoshino Architects’ second consecutive year as a Winner, following its award in the High Rise Buildings category in 2024.

The Pedestrian Bridge “Reimei Kobashi”

Reimei Kobashi footbridge, which connects Kachidoki Station and Harumi 3-chome in Tokyo’s waterfront district, opened to the public on March 25, 2024. This footbridge crosses the Asashio Canal to Grand Marina Tokyo, with a soft arching design reminiscent of gentle waves rolling over the water's surface.

The continuous white structure of the bridge hovering above emphasizes the rhythm of the water's surface through its subtle, undulating form. The shadow of the bridge, cast onto the water's surface, enhances the imagination even more with a congregation of waves seeming to wash over one another. The design, presenting one fluid motion from three-dimensional geometric changes, provides pedestrians walking across with that feel of movement.

Design

The lighting is programmed to change colours gradually, depending on the season and day of the week. By changing the rhythm of the lighting program for the top and bottom of the three-dimensional rippled shape, the different colour combinations are designed to create a variety of impressions. In this way, the nightscope of this newly developed area, where the number of residents is increasing, can be enjoyed daily for its momentary colourful combinations and movements.

About Hoshino Architects Inc.

Founded by architect Hiroaki Hoshino in 2012, Hoshino Architects Inc. is an architectural and urban design practice based in Tokyo with extensive international experience. The firm is dedicated to designing cities, spaces, and experiences that are loved by people, bringing together a diverse team of architects and designers from around the world. The firm captures the many faces of each site and extracts the elements that shape the surface of the city — from light and color to landscape. Through layering and abstraction, Hoshino Architects communicates these ideas to express the urban atmosphere, amplifying the history, culture, and geographical context of each place. This approach invites people to rediscover their surroundings, and to engage with the unique character of every environment.

Hoshino Architects has received multiple design awards in Japan and abroad — including the Good Design Award and the international architecture award, The Architecture MasterPrize™ (AMP) — recognizing its commitment to innovative and human-centered design. Hiroaki Hoshino has practiced architectural design in London, Dubai, and Tokyo, and is qualified as an Architect in both the UK and Japan. He joined Hopkins Architects’ London office in 2000 and was appointed 'Representative in Japan’ in 2012. He currently oversees the British firm’s projects in Japan as Project Director.

Since setting up his own design office, Hoshino Architects, in Tokyo in 2012, he has been working on residential, hotel, resort, retail, and office projects across Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore, as well as in other Asian countries.

Photo credit: ebi_times