Life could be just - Honorable Mention, Top 10, NOT A HOTEL 2026

Life could be just, got an Honorable Mention and Top 10 finalist in the Not a Hotel Design Competition 2026, selected from 1,058 entries from 4,250 participants across 112 countries.
José Saramago, a Nobel prize winner once wrote:  
Life could be just sitting on the grass, 
holding a daisy, and not pulling its petals 
not because the answers are known, 
but because they are of such little importance,
that discovering them would not be worth the life of a flower.   

This was the idea that guided our project.    

Set in Yakushima, the project is not conceived as an object placed in the landscape, but as a way of looking at it.   Here, architecture does not seek to impose or transform, but to slow down perception and allow the environment to reveal itself over time.  
Rain, humidity, vegetation, and ageing are not resisted, but accepted as part of the life of the house.  

A grounded concrete volume rests against the terrain, almost geological, while a lighter canopy extends outward, creating a space of transition between body and landscape.   
Rather than opening views indiscriminately, the project frames them carefully, almost cinematically, guiding attention instead of overwhelming it.    

The house does not aim to impress. It proposes a quieter condition: a place to remain, to observe, and to recalibrate.

In a context defined by constant speed and consumption, it becomes an instrument for stillness, where architecture steps back so that nature, time, and atmosphere can take the lead.  

Rather than offering a definitive solution, the project remains open, a framework for experience rather than a fixed image. It allows time, weather, and inhabitation to complete it. In this sense, the architecture is not an end, but a condition: one that invites a different way of being present in the world.

Location: Yakushima Island, Kagoshima, Japan Project type: Private House (Competition proposal) 

Areas 
Net floor area: 254.00 m² 
Gross area: 300.00 m² 
Outdoor areas: 315.50 m² 
Total construction area: 615.50 m²  

Building Floors: 1 
Building height: 5.40 m 
Clear ceiling height: 4.20 m  
Living spaces:  Living room (40 m²) 
Dining room (35 m²) 
Kitchen (18.5 m²)  

Private spaces:  
3 Bedrooms (21 m², 22 m², 15.5 m²) 
Closet (3.5 m²)  

Wet / wellness:  
4 Bathrooms (4.5 m², 7 m², 13 m², 9 m²) 
2 Toilets (2 m², 2.5 m²) 
Sauna (4.5 m²) 
Cold plunge (3 m²)  

Circulation & support:  
Entrance (5 m²) 
Hallways (35 m²) 
Changing room (13 m²)  

Outdoor:  
Terrace (149.5 m² 8 m² bedroom terrace) 
Pool (38 m²) 
Parking (34 m²) 
Equipment storage (72 m²) 
Stairs (8 m²)