The redevelopment of Tokyo’s Toranomon-Azabudai district has officially begun.
Heatherwick Studio has designed the public realm and lower-level podium architecture, landscaping, and retail for the project site, which will span more than eight hectares and include a 6,000-sm central landscaped square. The project will include a mix of office, residential, retail, a school, and a temple.
See Also: New office complex in Southern California strives to create a Silicon Valley-like campus vibe
In an effort to bring harmony and create a distinctive identity to this area of Tokyo, Heatherwick Studio devised a pergola-like system scaled up to district proportions to organize and unify elements of various sizes. This allows for significant green space at both the ground level and climbing up the podium buildings without sacrificing connectivity to the ground.
Courtesy Heatherwick Studio | Darcstudio.
The undulating structure echoes the form of the project’s valley setting, rising like a sloping hillside before puncturing the ground to allow natural light to pour deep into the basement retail zones. The pergola will rise approximately 141 feet and include seven floors above ground and six below. It is Heatherwick Studio’s first project in Japan to go into construction.
Courtesy DBOX for Mori Building Co.
“As a way of combining an architectural construction system with significant amounts of nature we developed the idea of a garden pergola scaled up to district size,” said Thomas Heatherwick, Founder, Heatherwick Studio, in a release. “This concept has allowed us to bring an overarching logic to an eight-hectare piece of Tokyo whilst also making space for facilities such as housing, shops, hotels, spas, a school and a temple within the sections framed by the grid.”
Courtesy DBOX for Mori Building Co.
The district will also include three skyscrapers designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the tallest of which will rise approximately 1,082 feet and become the tallest building in Japan. One of the other two towers will rise approximately 862 feet and become Tokyo’s second tallest tower.
Around 25 to 30 million people are expected to visit the area every year. The project broke ground on Aug. 5, 2019 and is slated for completion in 2023. Mori is developing the district.
Courtesy Heatherwick Studio | Darcstudio.
Courtesy Heatherwick Studio | Darcstudio.
Related Stories
| Oct 31, 2014
Dubai plans world’s next tallest towers
Emaar Properties has unveiled plans for a new project containing two towers that will top the charts in height, making them the world’s tallest towers once completed.
| Oct 15, 2014
Final touches make 432 Park Avenue tower second tallest in New York City
Concrete has been poured for the final floors of the residential high-rise at 432 Park Avenue in New York City, making it the city’s second-tallest building and the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere.
| Oct 6, 2014
Moshe Safdie: Skyscrapers lead to erosion of urban connectivity
The 76-year-old architect sees skyscrapers and the privatization of public space to be the most problematic parts of modern city design.
| Sep 23, 2014
Cloud-shaped skyscraper complex wins Shenzhen Bay Super City design competition
Forget the cubist, clinical, glass and concrete jungle of today's financial districts. Shenzhen's new plan features a complex of cloud-shaped skyscrapers connected to one another with sloping bridges.
| Sep 15, 2014
Argentina reveals plans for Latin America’s tallest structure
Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announces the winning design by MRA+A Álvarez | Bernabó | Sabatini for the capital's new miexed use tower.
| Sep 5, 2014
First Look: Zaha Hadid's Grace on Coronation towers in Australia
Zaha Hadid's latest project in Australia is a complex of three, tapered residential high-rises that have expansive grounds to provide the surrounding community unobstructed views and access to the town's waterfront.
| Aug 19, 2014
Goettsch Partners unveils design for mega mixed-use development in Shenzhen [slideshow]
The overall design concept is of a complex of textured buildings that would differentiate from the surrounding blue-glass buildings of Shenzhen.
| Aug 18, 2014
SPARK’s newly unveiled mixed-use development references China's flowing hillscape
Architecture firm SPARK recently finished a design for a new development in Shenzhen. The 770,700 square-foot mixed-use structure's design mimics the hilly landscape of the site's locale.
| Jul 17, 2014
A new, vibrant waterfront for the capital
Plans to improve Washington D.C.'s Potomac River waterfront by Maine Ave. have been discussed for years. Finally, The Wharf has started its first phase of construction.
| Jul 17, 2014
A high-rise with outdoor, vertical community space? It's possible! [slideshow]
Danish design firm C.F. Møller has developed a novel way to increase community space without compromising privacy or indoor space.