Tokyo

Tokyo Design Center

Mario Bellini 1991.12 When I was taken to the spot, I was immediately attracted by the immense difficulties of the task: to design what was to be the Tokyo Design Center on an area that was both important and extremely difficult. Facing a very wide avenue, the Sakurada Dori, and visible every day b

mAAch ecute KANDA MANSEIBASHI

mAAch ecute is a commercial facility managed by JR East Station Retailing, making use of the platform of the former Manseibashi station and exisiting staircase. The design concept is derived from the spirit of preservation: the beautiful arches of the brick viaduct are left as they were, composing a

SunnyHills at Minami-Aoyama

This is a pineapple cake shop, utilizing Japan’s traditional woodworking technique, the so-called “hell’s structure” of connecting wooden fixtures for its exterior and interior design. The intense wood elaboration of the three-layered external wall combined without nails makes this store stand out i

Musashino Art University Library

Sou Fujimoto, considered one of the leaders of Japan’s future architectural circles, was responsible for designing this library, comprising an underground floor (book storeroom) and two floors above the ground (the art and design research floor and the studying floor). The library’s external appeara

TOKYU PLAZA GINZA

Tokyu Plaza Ginza is a large-scale commercial lease building, constructed in Ginza, a traditional commercial district of Tokyo. The complementary themes of its design are tradition and innovation. The external design is made to resemble the faceted glass of the Edo era, acting as a “container of lig

Marugoto Nippon

Marugoto Nippon is a commercial facility launched by TOKYO RAKUTENCHI GROUP in December 2015 with the purpose to reinvigorate the Asakusa Rokku district. The space from the first to the fourth floors is occupied by renowned regional businesses from 20 municipalities and nearly 50 regions that were p

sahsya kanetanaka

Photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, responsible for the design of the restaurant, has been a collector of antiques for a long time. Among the artifacts gathered by him, there are parts of ancient architecture, giving forth to the imaginations of other spaces: one of his current activities is to create de

NISSAN CROSSING

NISSAN CROSSING occupies the first two floors of Ginza’s new landmark—GINZA PLACE. The impressive appearance of GINZA PLACE—designed by Klein Dytham architecture based on the motif of “FRETWORK,” a traditional carving technique—matches with Ginza’s Tokyu Plaza Building that draws its inspiration fro

Sheraton Miyako Hotel Tokyo / Sheraton Club Lounge

The premises of Miyako Hotel—adjacent to the vast territory of “Happo-en” garden, to which the entrepreneur and politician Fusanosuke Kuhara devoted his heart and soul—is a place where the residence of the well-known economic and political figure Aiichiro Fujiyama was once located. The garden exerts

INTERMEDIATHEQUE

‘INTERMEDIATHEQUE’ was established in the JP Tower which was developed from the former Tokyo Central Post Office building to a large-scale free-of-charge museum and a shop arcade ‘KITTE’. It was re-edited as a cultural facility attempting a dynamic synthesis with a commercial facility. Following the

GINZA TSUTAYA BOOKS

GINZA TSUTAYA BOOKS

Tokyo Midtown

On par with Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Midtown is a landmark of the Roppongi district. As the building is composed of glass facades, it makes a balanced urbanistic statement through its utilization of light dots. By contrast, its entrance is a highly tranquil space.

TAKEO Aoyama MIHONCHO

This is a paper shop by the leading Japanese paper manufacturer, “Takeo.” The shop is serenely laid out in a tranquil residential area. In this shop, countless kinds of paper are organized and stored into individual drawers. Since there is nothing else except for drawers in the shop, a minimalist sp

iGUANEYE Aoyama Main Store

iGUANEYE, originally a footwear brand, designed by Olivier Taco from Paris, draws its inspiration from the lifestyle of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon The world’s first iGUANEYE store in Tokyo’s most bustling area called Aoyama dedicates its full space for the sales of the footwear. Precisely

Konica Minolta Planetarium “TENKU” in TOKYO SKYTREE TOWN

Tenku is a planetarium where five types of light—natural, indirect, specular, refracting, and projection—interweave, providing a visual experience that creates image and space. By obtaining the assistance of corporations that are superior in optical technologies, a new sense of design focused on the

DAIKANYAMA TSUTAYA BOOKS

This shop manifests the new type of bookstore. The idea is actualized in the form of a large-scale bookstore and in a quiet residential area. The books are arranged not by genres but lifestyles. For instance, the travel corner has cooking books and philosophical essays. The collage-style arrangement

2Ｆ3Ｆ4Ｆ Isetan Shinjuku Main Store

Department stores all over the world have been placed in a difficult position by Internet society and IT technologies. Mechanisms of distribution and prices have become global, giving rise to Amazon and Uniqlo. However, there exists a rare department store that has managed to overthrow these mechani

NEZU MUSEUM

An architect conquers the world through his work. However, this museum started from the realization of architecture amidst the small-scale work Kengo Kuma undertook in the rural regions of Japan in the 1990s when he had no job. This inspired the titles of his books: “Anti-object” and “An Architectur

Blue Bottle Coffee Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Roastery & Café

This production site—which unites a coffee roastery, a café, an office, a training room for future baristas, and a pastry factory—occupies the space of a renewed warehouse. The aura of the warehouse as it is and the store’s equipment (counter, furniture, shelves, machines) seem to be unintended but

Grand Hyatt Tokyo Chapel

Takashi Sugimoto’s artistry is the benchmark of Japan’s interior designers’ advancement into overseas markets. This can be traced to the 1990s when he produced Mezza9, a restaurant in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Singapore. His signature design style has been transmitted to Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai, B

ARCHI-DEPOT

The ARCHI-DEPOT Museum, established in Terada Warehouse, is the first regular museum in Japan with a collection of modern architecture models. The space of 450 square meters with a ceiling height of 5.2 meters has over 100 shelves dedicated to the exposition of architectural models. The underlying c

PASS THE BATON OMOTESANDO

The design of Omotesando Hills, developed by the Mori Building Company, is by Tadao Ando. Because Omotesando is a district that imposes limitations on the height of constructions and to acknowledge the view of the naturescaped elm tree alley, Omotesando Hills is a lower building with three floors ab

Koizumi Douguten

The small-scale space of this renovated old Japanese wooden building comprises sites of various purposes—a shop, an office, a warehouse, a workshop, and a viewing room. Yet, it is surprisingly austere. Its space recreates the old Japanese household concept of the “beauty of use” (which is different

Omotesando Hills Dojunkan

Dojunkan is a foundation established as a reconstruction support initiative after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake that aimed to provide unburnable steel-reinforced concrete housing. Dojukan’s apartments were the first steel-reinforced concrete facilities to ever appear in Japan and thus retained eno

BOOK AND BED TOKYO

Despite the Internet’s domination of society, “books” are experiencing a rapid ascent not only in Japan but also in Korea and Taiwan. Many new fascinating spaces with “books” have emerged recently. BOOK AND BED TOKYO (an economy hotel) is one such audacious location. Rather than a capsule hotel, it

ASAKUSA CULTURE TOURIST INFORMATION CENTER

In the corner premise of just 326㎡ across Kaminari-mon Gate, the building was required to accommodate plural programs such as tourist information center, conference room, multi-purpose hall and an exhibition space. The center extends Asakusa’s lively neighborhood vertically and piles up roofs that

KIYA Nihonbashi Main Store

This is a household shop focused on cutlery, where one can see various tools handmade by craftsmen as well as the household scenes. It is as if the store aims to create a stir in present-day society marked by the possibility that traditional Japanese crafts may vanish. The exposition of tools is con

BUNKA HOSTEL TOKYO

BUNKA HOSTEL TOKYO occupies a thirty-year old commercial building located on the corner of Asakusa shopping promenade and was converted into a hostel for foreign visitors that promotes Japan’s modern-day culture. With a spatial design opened towards the local area, the first floor is made to host “B

Kyobashi EDOGRAND / TOMITA Showroom

Kyobashi Edogrand is the most recent large-scale redevelopment project inside the city. While being close to Tokyo station, the Kyobashi area has not boasted of many large-sized office buildings until now. With many land and building owners in the area, in 2001, the “Town Development Review Committe

Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku

Shopping buildings all over the world resemble each other. They end up being alike since they are constructed with the economic interest of increasing tenants’ fees in mind. However, the Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku overruled the typology of shopping buildings by making an unconventional use of i

Hitoshinaya

Hitoshinaya is a Japanese traditional restaurant facing the departure lobby of Haneda Airport’s Terminal 1. It constitutes one dining facility comprised of three specialized restaurants. They connect to one another along each of the restaurant’s eaves, creating a refreshing impression of a streetsca

Under the elevated railway, Chuo line Community Station Higashikoganei / Mobility Station Higashikoganei

This project was launched to efficiently utilize the space beneath the train viaduct. Its spatial design not only assists in a purposeful usage of the space under the viaduct, a previously unutilized place in the city, but also contributes to the development of the town. A succession of massive whit

Tsutaya Electrics

Tsutaya Electrics is a life-style theme store where civilization (home electronics) and culture (books) merge. It has been designed to pursue a captivating space that one cannot experience if one is shopping online, despite the fact that digital commerce has become mainstream in the world. The inter

ProActive / University of Guam Japan office

The designers of the University have anticipated the internalization of the area as part of the urban development of the surrounding premises, ensuring that the internal space of the facility is largely visible on the street. The two-layered vaulted entrance hall on the roadside creates a void-like

Remm Hibiya

“Not guestroom, but bedroom” is the concept behind Remm, which has been designed following ideas such as “sound sleep while staying at a hotel,” “sensory space of sweet sleep,” “five-sense experience of comfort,” and “overhead rainshower.” It is a neutral space with almost no scents, fitted with the

Tama Art University Hachioji Library

One of the distinguishing features of this library is that its first floor is inclined 1/20, mirroring the natural slope of the university premises. An arcade gallery constituting free space serves as one more pathway for students and faculty to connect to the bus stop and each of the campus buildin

Ao

This edifice is a glass building of an unstructured form mainly used for commercial activities. Lighting is installed inside the double-skinned layer of glass, creating a formation of strong and weak lights intermingled with lightless dimensions. Although it creates a somewhat complex impression at

The PENINSULA Tokyo

Windows on each floor are topped with eaves where the lighting is installed. Layered through these eaves, the illumination is mesmerizing. The lighting design, visible even from afar, helps one feel the elegance of The Peninsula, one of the flagship hotels in Asia. Its interior as a whole renders th

21_21 DESIGN SIGHT

Designed by Tadao Ando, the spatial composition of the museum is simple yet thoroughly thought out. The roof is made of a large iron plate. The type of lighting employed is characteristic of Ando’s architecture: a kind of space that finely controls natural light. The indoor illumination can be freel

Tokyo Station

In the process of restoring Tokyo Station, which is considered the gateway of Japan, close to its original appearance, lighting was designed in a way that color temperatures could be controlled in accordance with the various materials (brick, stone, copperplate, roofing, etc.) of the building. There

Mandarin Oriental Tokyo 37th floor, Restaurant & Bar

Mandarin, one of the most elegant hotels of the Hong Kong hotel chain, has only one branch in Japan. The highlights of the 37th floor’s wining and dining facilities are their interior design bejeweled with elements of Tokyo style while maintaining a sense of Asia. Illumination is fused with the inte

TOKYO SKYTREE®

Sky Tree is Japan’s newest landmark. With elaborate manipulation of light, it features a highly sophisticated illumination. Contrived in a way so that the lights do not escape to the sky, the construction is covered in light as if it is its natural coating. This landmark adopts techniques for energy

SUMIDA AQUARIUM

The Sumida Aquarium is an urban aquarium intended to be a part of the Sky Tree space. The aquarium with the largest square footage in Japan, it highlights a flat-surfaced water tank for penguins. The lighting is installed inside the facility, and it reproduces a one-day flow of time in unison with t

The National Art Center, Tokyo

The National Art Center was the last museum designed by Kisho Kurokawa. The museum is surrounded by a large wall surface of bent glass. Although the wall surface looks as if it is completely unintentional, a design project of the highest precision is actually behind it. The lighting may not convey a

Roppongi Hills

The lighting design of Roppongi Hills is executed by seven lighting companies, including the ones represented by Kaoru Mende (LPA) and Motoko Ishii. This joint project by seven companies creates a peculiar atmosphere: many townscapes with synergistic illumination can be observed. This building is th