The Organized Design Team and Design-Build in Japan

Japan has a rich history of architecture and has produced many notable architects, such as Kenzo Tange, Togo Murano, Kisho Kurokawa, and Tadao Ando. In Japan, architects are authorized to practice under the "kenchikushi law" (the architect registration law), enacted in 1950. This law is quite different from architect registration laws in the United States and other countries. A kenchikushi is a person who has attained certification under the kenchikushi law as being qualified to provide building design and to supervise construction work. This does not mean, however, that the person is qualified to practice architecture. Under the kenchikushi law, the kenchikushi certificate is indispensable for an architect to complete his or her professional role. However, some other professionals who hold a kenchikushi license in Japan are not always architects. The Japan Institute of Architects (JIA) regards the difference between a professional kenchikushi and an architect as important. Those who practice as architects are known as “kenchikuka,” which is a widely recognized position in the Japanese construction industry, as distinguished from other kenchikushi.

There are three types of kenchikushi:

• a first-class registered kenchikushi, able to design all types of projects
• a second-class registered kenchikushi, subject to limitations on building types and scales
• a registered kenchikushi, authorized on to work on wooden buildings

Amendment of the kenchikushi system is ongoing in Japan because the present law does not meet the standards outlined by the International Union of Architects (UIA) Accord on Recommended International Standards of Professionalism in Architectural Practice. Consequently the establishment of a new qualification system for registered architects is in the works.

For projects in Japan, a kenchikushi is responsible for the construction project’s architectural planning and engineering. He or she is expected to control the architectural process for the client. Engineers with licenses assure engineering aspects of the architectural planning. Professionals with kenchikushi licenses work at various places (8 percent in the public sector; 28 percent for design firms; 39 percent for general construction companies; 7 percent for housing companies’ architecture sections; and 18 percent for other employers, including universities). The largest group of kenchikushi works for construction companies, not necessarily in the design department, but in the construction section.

Most public-sector owners have their own in-house design staffs, known as the “architectural section.” This concept dates back to 1900, and for years public owners in Japan did all their own design work. The organized design team began in the 1930s as a response to client requirements for more sophisticated services from outside design firms. In the 1950s, most of Japan’s large general contractors started to form their own in-house design sections, staffed with their own kenchikushis. At about that same time, Japan’s private housing developers began to form their own internal architectural sections, in response to the growing need for postwar housing. One example today is Mitsubushi Jisho Sekkei, a large real estate developer with its own architecture division performing facility management and architectural design. The company was formerly the in-house architecture division of Mitsubishi Jisho, another large real estate developer. Though it became an independent company several years ago, Mitsubushi Jisho Sekkei still maintains close relations with Mitsubishi Jisho.

Selection of Design-Build Teams
Another major difference in Japan, as compared to the United States, is that in Japan competitive bidding remains the accepted practice for selecting architects for public works projects. This is especially true among local governments, where architects selected through a bidding process design more than 80 percent of public buildings. By contrast, since the adoption of the federal Brooks Act in 1972, and the proliferation of model state laws, U.S. projects almost uniformly use qualifications-based selection (QBS) to select architects and engineers. In the public design-build market, the federal government and most states and agencies use a two-phase selection process, based partly on qualifications and partly on price. Unlike the United States, the QBS system has not been widely adopted in Japan. Instead, architects generally compete under a system based on competitive price proposals, a price-based system of selection that has been popular for many years. This system is currently used by the Japanese Ministry of Land and Transportation and most key public sector projects operate by this system. Likewise, design-build contracts tend to be awarded based on competitive prices.

Therefore, design-build teams seeking work in Japan should understand that the QBS concepts gaining popularity in the United States and United Kingdom are not used on public design-build projects in Japan. The two-phase selection process commonly used by U.S. government design-build projects, where a short list of design-build teams is prepared based solely on qualifications, followed by a design competition phase, is not used. Projects are mostly awarded based on competitive bidding. Work contracts in Japan are not as lengthy or strict as in the United States or United Kingdom. The JIA contract form is only a few pages long and there is little negotiation of fees with clients.

The architect’s role in Japan involves relating to clients’ top management and private clients’ general affairs sections to handle design services. For those clients with their own architecture staff, the outside architect must work with the client’s designers to provide engineering services as an outsourced consultant. In the most limited role, the architect merely serves as an adviser to a client who hires other companies to provide design and construction phase services.

The Organized Design Team
Over the years, a tradition has developed whereby major architecture projects in Japan are managed by a large design team, which may consist of a large integrated firm or a team of various consultants. This can include independent design firms, a general contractor’s design section, or the public sector owner/client’s architecture section. All of these parties work together in various roles, depending on how the project is structured.

The organized design team is the Japanese term for larger, multidisciplined firms that offer in-house architecture, engineering, planning, and other professional services. The organized design team is the outgrowth of postwar architects joining with engineers to provide clients with a comprehensive response. Later these firms expanded into urban planning, then added more specialized consulting services, either in-house or through establishment of separate consulting sections, including construction services for inspection. Japanese clients put confidence in the organized design team to produce high-quality construction and a stable design process. Information is shared confidentially by the client, along with the client’s business goals and the architect is trusted to meet those goals and to maintain the client’s confidence. Today the organized design team is a well-established entity in Japan, gaining strength since World War II. The client’s expectations of the organized design team are:

• organizational stability for a continued relationship between the client and the design team
• good insight into architecture and a comprehensive response to the client
• shared information to meet the client’s goals
• consultation with the client on outsourcing of needed services, such as project management, facility management, building cost management

Seamless communication, inside and outside, is crucial.

Contractor-Led Design-Build
As mentioned previously, in Japan design-build is dominated by the largest general contractors with large in-house architecture sections. By contrast, almost no design firms have their own general construction sections, providing designer-led design-build. The salaries and opportunities offered by general construction companies are so lucrative that 39 percent of architects in Japan work for contractors. For example, Nikken Sekkei Ltd. (NSL) is one of the largest contractors in Japan, dating back to 1900. In 1933 NSL opened an in-house architecture office. Today NSL is the largest independent design firm, with $239 million (US) in sales annually. Unlike Mitsubushi Jisho Sekkei, NSL has a long history as a pure architectural firm, perhaps the first architect-led design-build firm in Japan.

Most of these large contractors were founded generations ago, such as Takenaka Corporation, another large construction company that started an Osaka-based architecture section. The company’s roots go back to 1610 as a shrine and temple carpenter in Nagoya. The largest five of Japan’s general contractors, Taisei Corporation, Shimizu Corporation, Takenaka Corporation, Obayashi Corporation, and Kajima Corporation, do more than $7 billion (US) in annual sales. All of these companies have in-house design staff.

In the larger general construction companies, such as Takenaka and Kajima, architecture staff may work for either the design side (“creative works”) or the construction administration side. Architects are attracted to these companies, where salaries surpass those of an average Japanese architecture firm. However, not all of the professional staff who have kenchikushi licenses work on the design staff. So although it is true that 39 percent of kenchikushi are employed by general construction companies, the percentage of these that actually perform design services is much smaller. The challenge for kenchikushi working for small- or medium-sized general construction company is even greater, since there are even more limited opportunities to do design work. As a result, the more talented architecture students who want a career in design tend to apply for jobs at the larger construction companies or architectural firms, or apprentice to more famous architects.

Some large corporations have in-house design sections. For example, Japan’s second largest contractor in Japan is NTT Facilities, with its own in-house architecture division engaged in both facility management and architectural design. NTT Facilities used to be the in-house architectural division of NTT, a large telephone company that originated in the public sector. Though NTT Facilities became an independent company several years ago, it keeps close relations with NTT.

Project Delivery Models in Japan
In Japan there are three primary project delivery models for private-sector work. These are similar to the methods used in the United States:

• Traditional
• Design-build
• Construction management.

The term design-build (or “design and build,” as used in the United Kingdom) is not commonly used in Japan.


Figure 1: Project Delivery Models Common in Japan

The first model is known in the United States and United Kingdom as the “traditional” method, under which the client has two separate agreements, one with an architect to design and another with the contractor to build. In the second model, the contractor holds the design-build contract, using its in-house design and management staff. The general construction company’s business management section receives information from the client and then works with the design and construction sections for a truly integrated design-build process. In the third model (which in the United States would also be called “design-build”) the client hires a construction manager who then enters into subcontracts with the architect and contractor. The construction manager acts as the client’s agent and manages the design and construction services.

In the Japanese public sector, owner/clients normally have their own architecture sections; however, these in-house architecture sections will most often outsource the design to an independent design firm. The public client hires a consortium consisting of a small architecture firm with engineering consultants and then contracts separately with the contractor. More recently, public-sector clients retain separate architects for the design phase and the construction (inspection) phase, so that one firm solely does design work while the other performs construction administration and supervision.

Project Delivery in Japan
Each of these three delivery models has multiple variations for the architect in terms of services provided. In some instances, two architects are hired to provide different services. Here are the four main variations:

Type 1. In this method, the architect manages the process from “fundamental design” through the construction phase. Even in this method, an owner may hire two architecture firms: one as a “pure” designer, and another as the technical architect. This is similar to the process in the United States in which a “name” architect is hired to do the initial design, and then a local production firm is hired to prepare the construction documents and oversee construction phase services. In Japan, this has been used on projects by Renzo Piano, Cesar Pelli, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Perkins+Will, and others who serve as the “design architect” in collaboration with a local Japanese architect.

Type 2. This fits under Model #2 in Figure 1, where the general construction company manages the entire process. This is the more prevalent method of project delivery today in Japan and would be known as “integrated design-build” outside of Japan. The contractor has complete control and responsibility, from design through completion of construction.

Type 3. The architect performs the preliminary “fundamental” design, and then hands that design over to the general construction company to develop the design development and build the project. The architect inspects the construction work. In the United States, this method is called bridging, and is often used in the public sector for design-build projects. This process is even written into some state laws, in which the initial architect is referred to as the design criteria consultant, the performance criteria developer, or A/E-1. The design is forwarded to the construction company to complete and detail, using its in-house staff or an outside architect as a subcontractor.

Type 4. In this method, a variation of Type 3, the architect has a weaker role during the construction phase, as an adviser or observer, only on the client’s behalf.

In any of the methods in Japan, when the general construction company acts as the design-builder, the owner will sometimes hire an outside architect as an adviser during the entire process, to oversee it from fundamental design to design development to construction.

When functioning in any role, JIA believes the architect/organized design team’s independence is necessary to protect the client’s interests. There is a growing concern among Japanese architects that the selection of the general construction company is often primary, and the architect is secondary, especially when the architect is an in-house employee of that construction company. With so many contractors offering in-house design services, it is likely that in Japan general construction companies are better known than the architects or architecture firms who design the project. JIA also believes architects should be selected on their qualifications, and be skilled in advanced technology and conscious of environmental issues. The client expects the architect to achieve high-quality results, and to clarify the construction process. However, although most Japanese people understand that the architect’s role in the construction process is significant, a culture has developed that perceives hiring a design-build contractor as simply more convenient.

The Future Role of the Japanese Architect
With the predominance of design-build in Japan, and its growing use globally, the architect’s role must not be overlooked or project quality will suffer. In September 2005, the AIA Board of Directors adopted Policy Statement No. 26 on Alternative Project Delivery methods, saying that regardless of the delivery method used, the AIA “believes that an architect is most qualified to lead”; and the AIA “advocates that architects should be retained in that role.” JIA shares this view; its position is likewise that the construction process should be managed by an architect and that the architect should be leading design-build. In Japan, where large general construction companies tend to dominate the design-build market, it is a greater challenge to suggest that architects take over that lead role. Leadership can come from within, however, and even those kenchikushi who are trained as architects and employed by construction companies must lead the design process, which they are licensed to do. These are exciting times in Japan and there are many active collaborations between American and Japanese architects. Architects in both nations share a dedication to quality in the built environment, and they are trained and educated to provide that in any method of project delivery.

Yoshihiko (Yoshi) Sano, JIA, Assoc. AIA, is a first-class registered kenchikushi in Japan, whose firm, Yasui Architects & Engineers Inc., a third-generation firm founded in 1924 by Sano’s grandfather, is the eighth largest design firm in Japan.  G. William (Bill) Quatman, FAIA, Esq.,  is a licensed architect and attorney with the law firm of Shughart Thomson & Kilroy PC, with seven offices in four states. He is the author and editor of two leading books on design-build for architects and design professionals and a frequent speaker at AIA national Cconventions. He is the 2007 chair of AIA Design-Build and past chair of the Design-Build Institute of America’s Laws Committee.