Construction has broken ground on Heatherwick Studio's latest project in Asia – a striking, organic, mixed use development featuring within its composition a distinctive green pergola style roof. The scheme, located in Tokyo's Toranomon-Azabudai district, includes the public realm and lower-level podium architecture for a site, which also comprises a 6,000 sq m central landscaped square, office, residential, retail, a school and a temple.
Working with the Mori Building Company to create ‘an exceptional public district for the city', Heatherwick Studio is effectively working on the redevelopment of the wider area’s accessible public realm, which is expected to be visited by some 25 million people per year, once completed.
The practice responded to the site’s irregular shape by designing fluid, undulating volumes, which are topped off by a planted roof – this gives a much needed green element to the scheme, while echoing ‘the natural forms of the project’s valley setting', explain the architects.
‘It’s been very exciting working on the Toranomon-Azabudai project and much of our effort has been focused on designing the public spaces that everyone will experience when they spend time in this new area,’ says Thomas Heatherwick. ‘As many new developments around the world can be harsh and sterile we wondered if we could provide a more human-centred alternative by integrating surprisingly intense quantities of planting and greenery.’
The Toranomon-Azabudai project is Heatherwick Studio’s very first to begin construction in Japan. Completion is due in March 2023.
INFORMATION
-
The great American museum boomNine of the world’s top ten most expensive, recently announced cultural projects are in the US. What is driving this investment, and is this statistic sustainable?
-
Here’s how Heathrow is reimagining airport chaos as ambient musicGrammy-nominated Jordan Rakei turns travel noise into a meditative soundtrack by sampling everything from baggage belts to jet engines
-
Wallpaper* checks into Gansevoort Meatpacking, an art-filled hotel that mirrors the district’s glow-upThis sharp, stylish New York hotel is a fixture in its neighbourhood, where boutiques, restaurants and clubs have long since taken over spaces once occupied by slaughterhouses
-
Mayumi Miyawaki’s Fukumura Cottage puts this lesser-known Japanese modernist in the spotlightDiscover the little-known modernist architect through this private home in Japan’s Tochigi prefecture countryside
-
Aston Martin completes its first Tokyo townhouse, crafted by the brand’s design teamThis luxurious private house in Tokyo’s Omotesandō neighbourhood offers design and details shaped by Aston Martin, as well as features for the dedicated car collector
-
A Karuizawa house is a soothing, work-from-home retreat in JapanTakeshi Hirobe Architects play with scale and space, creating a tranquil residence in which to live and work
-
Naoshima New Museum of Art is a home for Asian art, and a lasting legacy, in Seto Inland SeaThe Naoshima New Museum of Art opens, marking a seminal addition to the Japanese island's renowned Benesse Art Site Naoshima; we explore Tadao Ando's design
-
Behind a contemporary veil, this Kyoto house has tradition at its coreDesigned by Apollo Architects & Associates, a Kyoto house in Uji City is split into a series of courtyards, adding a sense of wellbeing to its residential environment
-
Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa on harmony, nature and their RIBA gongThe SANAA duo are celebrating their RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2025 in London today, and talked to us about self-reflection, the year ahead, and the need to create harmony in our environment
-
New book 'I-IN' brings together Japanese heritage and minimalist architecture at its finestJapanese architecture studio I-IN flaunts its expert command of 21st-century minimalism in a new book by Frame Publishers
-
Giant rings! Timber futurism! It’s the Osaka Expo 2025The Osaka Expo 2025 opens its microcosm of experimental architecture, futuristic innovations and optimistic spirit; welcome to our pick of the global event’s design trends and highlights
