Canopy in Misumi

Laurent Ney from Ney and Partners received the Japan Structural Design Prize for the design of the canopy in Misumi. The award, formerly Matsui Prize, was launched in 1990 on the retirement of renowned engineer Gengo Matsui of Waseda University. The Award wants to bring attention to the role and importance of engineers in producing innovative and high-quality architectural design.

The 200m-long canopy was designed for a new public space in Misumi, a small town in the province of Kumamoto, situated at the end of sightseeing railway, that has started reconverting a dead parking area into a lively public space, connecting the existing harbor with the train station. The 200m long curved roof works as a continuous ring girder structure, sitting on the pin support of the columns. Giving a curved shape to the overall geometry allows for eccentric column positions to support the roof, and provides a 4 m wide column-free space, which will potentially invite a variety of activities.  

The roof structure comprises of sandwich panels of 9mm and 12mm thicknesses, containing transverse stiffeners inside. Using load-bearing elements as the finishing surface is a simple but elegant expression of structure. Sandwich panels were segmented to be produced in the factory, and shipped later to the site. This allowed for the reduction of the site-working period and the overall costs. The construction was realized with the collaboration of the architects and a highly skilled ship builders.

Canopy Misumi
Program: public space
Architects: Ney & Partners
Client: Kumamoto Prefecture
Project management: Prof. Hoshino Lab., Kumamoto University
Site design: Mizuno consultant
Structure: Oak Structural Design
Length: 200 m
Area: 100 sqm
Completion: 2016