Produced by Gunma Professional Basketball Commission Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, President and CEO Takeshi Akuzawa), a group company of Open House Group Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Masaaki Arai, hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) “Open House Arena Ota (Ota City General Gymnasium)” (hereinafter referred to as “Opuari”), which participated in the event, has been awarded the 2024 Good Design Award (sponsored by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion). Opuari is the home arena of the Gunma Crane Thunders (hereinafter referred to as the “Thunders”), a B1 team in the Japan Professional Basketball League B.LEAGUE, managed by the Gunma Professional Basketball Commission, and also serves as a place for citizens to engage in sports activities and as a base for interaction among local residents. It is loved.
In addition, Meldia Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Kenta Kikuchi), a group company of our company whose corporate message is “Design Your Life,” has developed “Balconies” and “Wooden detached houses for sale.” “Housing: Vertically Connected Home and Soto” also received the Good Design Award.
Opuari is a facility completed in April 2023 in Ota City, Gunma Prefecture as a new civic gymnasium that symbolizes Ota City. As the home arena for the Thunders, which has a capacity of approximately 5,000 people and is one of the main conditions for entering the new top division B.LEAGUE PREMIER starting in 2026, it is packed with a world-class viewing environment. On the other hand, it has a compact design that allows for sustainable operation even in regional cities. Ota City, Saunders, and our company are working together to energize the area around Opuari, aiming to operate an arena that will attract attention from all over Japan.
Through joint efforts between the public and private sectors, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of “towns, people, and jobs” and foster “civic pride” that citizens can be proud of, by creating a new form of “regional co-creation arenas” that will serve as the core of town development. I am. Construction and operation will utilize 4.4 billion yen in corporate hometown tax payments from our group to Ota City, as well as naming rights sponsorship fees from our group, creating a scheme that reduces the financial burden on the local government.
Award summary
Classification: Public space/civil engineering/landscape
Award winners: Ota City / Gunma Professional Basketball Commission Co., Ltd. / Azusa Sekkei Co., Ltd.
Business entity name: Ota City
Award page: https://www.g-mark.org/gallery/winners/20622
Judging committee evaluation comments
This is a project that combines sports business and community hub. As the home arena of the Gunma Crane Thunders basketball team, it is an example of how a place that generates strong enthusiasm can be turned into a base for local activities. A 3×3 basketball court has been set up in the outdoor space, and it is not difficult to imagine that the daily scenes of basketball enthusiasts were born out of one day’s enthusiasm. It may be said that it is a public space that is targeted to a limited number of people, but I hope that it will spread a certain sense of civic pride that will emerge from it.
Design points:
1 Town development centered around arenas, a new form of “regional co-creation arena”
2 Citizen sports activities and community base
3 A cutting-edge sports entertainment arena that creates new regional value
Producer: Ota City/Gunma Professional Basketball Commission Co., Ltd.
Director: Gunma Pro Basketball Commission Co., Ltd. Hirotaka Yokose (Business Development Manager of our company) / Azusa Sekkei Co., Ltd. Masakuni Nagahiro
Designer: Azusa Sekkei Co., Ltd. Masato Ishinari, Hideki Katayama, Shintaro Osumi
Detailed information: https://gunma-cm.com/
Location: 1059-1 Iizukacho, Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, Ota City Sports Park
The Gunma Professional Basketball Commission will conduct early market research, interviews with players, and other domestic players, including the NBA, in order to organize the conditions from the perspective of the home team and arena operator who will utilize the B.LEAGUE PREMIER standard arena. We conducted field surveys of the latest outdoor arenas, proposed the optimal size and specifications, and were responsible for the overall production for realization. Hirotaka Yokose (Business Development Manager of our company) and Masakuni Nagahiro of Azusa Sekkei have implemented appropriate project management to achieve the limited budget and strict deadlines while meeting the specified conditions. We completed the construction of an arena with a quality comparable to that of the NBA in an unprecedented three years.
Award comment
Gunma Professional Basketball Commission Co., Ltd. Representative Director and President Tsuyoshi Akuzawa
We thought about what kind of future arena would be suitable for the regional city of Ota City, and combined a compact space with approximately 5,000 seats with Japan’s largest movable center vision system and the world’s best sound system. By utilizing this arena, Gunma Crane Thunders home games created the highest sports entertainment space ever, attracting many people last season and ranking third in the B League in attendance. I believe that we were able to do so because of the cooperation of Ota City and because our thoughts reached the citizens of Ota and surrounding areas. We will be based at Open House Arena Ota, which has been praised as a sports business and community hub, and will work every day to contribute to the community in accordance with our club philosophy of “heating up Gunma with basketball.”
What is the Good Design Award?
The Good Design Award is an activity that aims to improve our lives and society through design. Since its inception in 1957, it has been widely known along with its symbol, the “G Mark.” Awards are given for various things that surround us, such as products, architecture, software, systems, and services. Regardless of whether it has a physical form or not, we consider design to be anything that people have built to fulfill some ideal or purpose, and we evaluate and honor its quality. From the official website (https://www.g-mark.org/learn/gda/overview)
About Gunma Crane Thunders
With the philosophy of “heating up Gunma with basketball,” we are working to energize the area through the sport of basketball. This season, new additions to the team include 2023 World Cup champion Johannes Thiemann from Germany, Yuma Fujii, who was selected as league MVP for the 2021-22 season, and Kyle Milling, who led the Hiroshima Dragonflies to last season’s league championship. Under our head coach, we are working as one to compete and win the team’s first championship.
Belongs to professional basketball B1 league east region
Activity starts: 2011
Hometown: Ota City
Home Arena: Open House Arena Ota
Main achievements:
2016-17 season B2 East region champion (B League first year)
2018-19 season B2 East region champion Playoff runner-up
2020-21 Season B2 East District Champion Playoff Champion Promotion to B1 League decided
2023-24 season B1 East region 4th place 31 wins, 29 losses
About Open House Group Co., Ltd.
From January 2022, Open House Co., Ltd. and related companies have transitioned to a holding company structure with Open House Group Co., Ltd. as the pure holding company. The group’s business focuses on detached houses, condominiums, profitable real estate, and real estate in the United States, and provides various services related to housing and living.In addition to the Tokyo metropolitan area where it was founded, the group also operates in the Nagoya area, We have expanded to the Kansai and Fukuoka areas, and in recent years we have also been focusing on regional co-creation activities and environmental conservation activities. In the detached house business, which has been our main business since our founding in 1997, we have an integrated manufacturing and sales system that covers everything from land purchasing to construction and sales, and provide homes in convenient locations at affordable prices. We have been working on initiatives that are unique to the group, such as the need for locations close to work and home due to the increasing number of dual-income households, and plans that meet new needs in the face of diversifying work styles. Our group will continue to strive to provide housing that more customers can choose from.
Open House Group Co., Ltd. Website URL: https://openhouse-group.co.jp/
Open House Co., Ltd. Website URL: https://oh.openhouse-group.com/
＜Company Profile＞
Trade name Open House Group Co., Ltd.
Head office location 2-7-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-7020 JP Tower 20th floor (general reception) / 21st floor
Founded in September 1997
Representative Masaaki Arai, President and Representative Director
Capital 20,133,380,000 yen
Number of employees (consolidated) 5,828 (as of the end of March 2024)
