Design should unite people with their surroundings. April's FRAME Awards winner, an exhibition intertwined with nature, does just that.

Tree Says was an installation at Sense Island, an art event that takes place on the uninhabited Japanese island of Sarushima that’s frequented by nature lovers. Hakuten designed an immersive experience on one of five sites that once had a turret used for defence purposes during WWII. Now overgrown, the location was ideal for Hakuten to create a work commenting on the passage of time and the power of nature. April’s jury members commended the design’s poetic ability to connect people with their surroundings; it scored 8.16 total in the category Exhibition.

Cover and above: Tree Says combines audio-visual features with tube lights mimicking the tree’s roots complemented by sounds created by vibrations resonating through the tree.

Special microphones, steel mono-tubes and vibration plates were set up to help visitors hear – and feel – the trees and their movements. Linear lights installed like root systems added to the atmospheric quality of the installation at night, awakening the curiosity and imagination of the audience. ‘Technology here is used in harmony with nature to amplify the users’ experience of the site,’ says jury member Katie Kasabalis, cofounder at Kasawoo. Fellow juror Catalina Soffia Baeza, Yáneken creative director, shares: ‘I really like how it resolves the connection with nature – how ceremonious and respectful the work is both to the environment and the viewer.

Part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, Taoxichuan Hotel celebrates Jingdezhen’s heritage in porcelain manufacturing and artisanship.

Renovating a century-old house and barn in Jinsekikogen, Japan, Reiichi Ikeda Design developed a home for a couple to decompress on weekends.

A small coffee stand adjacent to Kyoto’s train station, Suetomi AoQ functions as a ‘signboard’ to lead visitors to the nearby flagship of Suetomi, a confectionery brand.

Tied for the first honourable mention distinction are Hyatt’s Jingdezhen, China, Taoxichuan Hotel (7.81; Hotel) and House Zinseki, a residence in Jinsekikogen, Japan. Designed by Aim Architecture, the former celebrates its locality’s long porcelain manufacturing heritage with rich materiality. Meanwhile, Reiichi Ikeda Design’s vision for House Zinseki (7.81; House) offers a married couple a respite in a house and barn renovated to showcase Japanese craftsmanship. Tactile palettes also feature heavily with the next-celebrated project, Suetomi AoQ Café Stand (7.69; Bar), a Kyoto venue by Ryohei Tanaka of G Architects Studio that functions as a directing force toward a larger confectionery shop. 

For the design of the Visum showroom, Pitsou Kedem Architects put the company’s only product, an innovative aluminium architectural solution, at centre stage.

Located in a trendy area of Guangzhou, China, the Lyfe Bakery was designed by Projject to connect the space with the building and the surrounding neighbourhood’s original character.

FRAME Awards April’s fourth honourable mention shifts the focus to retail, with Pitsou Kedem Architects’ Herzliya, Israel, showroom for brand Visum (7.62; Single-Brand Store). The monastic space uses industrial materials to refined ends, directing all eyes to Visum’s products. Rounding out this month’s top projects is Lyfe Bakery (7.6; Restaurant) in Chinese city Guangzhou, a Projject-conceived hospitality space that reveals the site’s connection between old and new.