TADAO ANDO: OMOTESANDO HILLS

Photo courtesy of Oimax

In 2006, 20 years after completion of Times I, the huge urban regeneration project Omotesando Hills was finished in Tokyo, a mixed used complex consisting of 130 shops and 38 apartments housing (incidentally, there is no hill here as there is none in Roppongi Hills. It's just a chic way that the Japanese have to call their malls, referring probably to Beverly Hills).

Photo courtesy of subtly obnoxious

The project, initiated in 1996, shows the Tadao Ando in the 90s. He had already won numerous architectural awards, including the Pritzker Prize, received millionaire commissions and was the head of one of the most significant architectural offices in the world.

First scketch. Image courtesy of Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Construction began in 2003, executed by Mori Building, one of the major Japanese construction companies (one of his most famous works is Namba Parks in Osaka.)

BACKGROUND

This project caused controversy because it replaced some Bauhaus style buildings, the Dōjunkai Aoyama Apartments, a social housing complex built in 1927 after the Kanto earthquake and survivor of the bombings during World War II and one of the richest and historically significant urban areas in Tokyo.

At the same time, Omotesando Street was built as the first boulevard in the country, leading to a large Torii indicating the access to the Meiji Shrine.

Photomontage with Omotesando boulevard. Image courtesy of Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Before (1997), during (2003) and after construction (2007).

See location on Google Maps

Over time, Dōjunkai Aoyama Apartments started to become a commercial area, and many of the houses began to be used as boutiques and small galleries. At the time of demolition, only 10% was used as a dwelling. The excuse for the demolition, as usual, was the danger of collapse in case of a big earthquake, and while some voices were raised to condemn the loss of Japanese urban heritage, the truth is that there was lack of will and money to save the Dōjunkai Aoyama Apartments.

Dōjunkai Aoyama Apartments. Photo courtesy of hyperspace

THE PROJECT

In front of the building is a grove of zelkova , a Japanese tree of leafy crown. For this reason, Ando's proposal for the urban revitalization in the area, tried to reduce its impact on the townscape by controlling the height of the building in order to not exceed the height of the trees.

The complex has two entrances. The main access is defined by a diagonal cut that behaves as a small square.

The housing volume protrudes dramatically several meters above the entrance plaza, emphasizing the main direction of the composition.

The second entrance is located on the eastern end of the building. Interestingly, Ando includes one of the original Dōjunkai Aoyama Apartments buildings recycled as and entrance to the complex. In the past, the architect has demonstrated his ability to integrate contemporary architecture in historic buildings (such as in the Villa Oyamazaki in Kyoto or the National Library of Children's Literature in Ueno, Tokyo). In Omotesando Hills he does the opposite, inserting a historical building as part of a large department store.

The entrance to the complex is one of the original Bauhaus style apartments.

The facade acts as a giant electronic 250 meters billboard, consisting of a series of LED whose displays change continuously.

Photo courtesy of nori238 Photo courtesy of since73

The following video shows the facade at night.



To capitalize on the enormous land cost (one square meter costing thousands of dollars) without disrupting the profile of the street, Ando chose to embed the build several levels underground.

"Although the restoration of the original building was physically and economically impossible, I was very careful to add two elements, so the memory of the Apartments Dojunkai will not be forgotten. First, I was very careful to make sure that the height of the complex was equal to the adjacent row of Japanese zelkovas, building half of the complex underground ... "

Cross section. Note that to the other side of the grove the building has a series of setbacks and terraces, in order not to disrupt the scale of the neighborhood street . Image courtesy of Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

"... The second was to use the slope of the Omotesando Street as part of the public space of the complex. The facade continues for 250 meters along the slope of Omotesando Street. Each floor is created in the same slope as Omotesando's, creating an innovative urban public space. "

The concept is really simple. In a triangular plot, a ramp 700 m long, called Spiral Slope ascends 6 levels, around a large atrium of oblong and monumental proportions, naturally lit by a skylight.

Photo courtesy of jen44

In this way, the visitor enjoys a panoramic visual contact with all the shops. At one end, a lift allows a quick connection between the different levels.

Photo taken by myself from a sign that says "it is forbidden to take photographs."

At the base of the atrium there is a staircase that becomes wider as it go deeper and can be used as an amphitheater. This public space, whose texture is composed of various shades of gray, has been used on several occasions for cultural activities such as the famous "Candle Night" .

Photo courtesy of mireihiroki

Photo courtesy of turezure

Besides the commercial aspect, Ando has included areas for cultural development. The so-called Space O, located on the basement, is a 500 m2 multipurpose space where various visual exhibitions are displayed or cultural presentations can be performed. Ando had already experimented with this type of spaces in Naoshima, in the Open Field at the Chichu Art Museum as well as in Minamidera , both in collaboration with James Turrel. In this case, the Space O has more flexible characteristics, but can also be used to house exhibitions in which the user interacts with the works of art.

Photo courtesy of Mori Co.

Water is also present through a flat and serene channel as well as a triangular pool at the apex of the triangle, an ornamental feature that marks the beginning of the complex. I would say the mall has a more human scale in the East , and gains monumentality as we headed west.

The concrete grid that forms in the upper housing volume, evokes the aesthetics used by the architect in his famous residential complex Rokko Housing in Kobe.

Facade to the grove. Image courtesy of Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

The idea of ​​the architect was to isolate these homes as much as possible from the hectic world that we happens under them, creating a private environment, despite being in the commercial heart of the city.

Interior of the apartments. Photos courtesy of Mori Co.

Likewise, the complex environmental contribution is are the so called Zelkova Terrace, roof gardens covering an area equivalent to 30% of the land and irrigated with rainwater. Unfortunately the public has no access to this garden. However, this restriction is understandable, perhaps because of the discomfort experienced by residents of famous housing developments such as Rokko Housing or Nakagin Capsule Tower , where they endure hordes of curious architects who disturb their privacy, and some of them even have the nerve to publish these photos in their blogs and moleskines.

Zelkova Terrace, the gardens on the roof of the assembly.

It's easy to fall into the role of criticizing Ando. I think this has been one of those controversial projects where whatever decision is made someone will always criticize, even if it is in favor of progress or preservation. Ando has done everything what he could to answer both demands in a modern response, evidently suffering from the economic pressures of the Mori Co. However, the fact is that , especially when compared with the spacial richness of Time's I & I, Omotesando Hills is a neat mall, but just a mall after all.

SEE ALSO
- OTHER WORKS BY TADAO ANDO

• Chapel in Mt. Rokko, Kobe, Japan. (1985-86)
• Church of the Light, Osaka, Japan. (1988-89)
• Church on Water, Tomomu, Japan. Tadao Ando (1988)
• Garden of Fine Arts, Kyoto, Japan. (1990)
• Times I & II
  

SHOPS AND COMMERCIAL FACILITIES.

• De Beers, Ginza. Jun Matsui.
• Gyre, MRDV
• Maison Hermes, Renzo Piano
• Namba Parks, Osaka
• TOD'S Omotesando, Toyo Ito

LE CORBUSIER: UNITÉ D'HABITATION IN BERLIN

ESPAÑOL

The Unités d'habitation are among the most famous works of Le Corbusier. As part of a larger and more radical approach, these huge housing units have influenced the development of residential projects around the world in the decades after their construction.


Of the 5 units built, the one in Berlin has sui generis characteristics, since Le Corbusier had to adapt the design of the building to the German modulated regulatory requirements. This post will explore some of the most important features of the unité in Berlin, and will take a closer look to some details Berlin building and the surprising change in the composition of its inhabitants today.

LE CORBUSIER'S URBAN IDEAS

In 1922 Le Corbusier presented a radical urban plan: the Ville Contemporaine, which was a criticism of the European city at that time: overcrowded, unhealthy, bleak. Le Corbusier proposed to demolish everything and build large residential blocks surrounded by parks and arranged so that they do not shade each other.

Le Corbusier compared the gloomy and unhealthy character of many areas in European cities with its proposal to the contemporary city. The picture, taken at the Unité in Berlin contrasts two situations: Le Soleil et l'Ombre (sun and shade).

His ideas were never fully implemented, despite the famed Swiss architect spent his life planner offering their services in many parts of the world, from Buenos Aires to Berlin. Only succeeded in Chandigarh, India.

THE UNITÉ D'HABITATION

However, only 5 residential units were built around the world. The most famous of the units is that of Marseilles, in France, called the Cité Radieuse or Radiant City (1945). Others are located in Nantes-Rezé (1952), Berlin (1956), Briey-en-Forêt (1957) and Firminy (1960).

Garden Terrace Radieuse Cité, the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille.

The idea was to build these large units as independent small towns, each with many different housing types, from apartments for singles to family residences for up to 10 people. Also, public facilities were to be included that allow these units to operate autonomously ,such as shops, sports areas medical and educational facilities within the building. It must be said, however, that after some time, the Unités began to deteriorate and they just never worked as independent "small cities", as Le Corbusier had envisioned.

The Unité in Berlin

The volumes are essentially elongated boxes, supported on pilotis in order to achieve better spatial integration with its pedestrian environment. The terrace was used as a garden to compensate the occupied area to nature (the 5 principles above explained corbuserianos in its design Curutchet House in La Plata, Argentina).

Unité Briey-en-Forêt.

Inside the residential unit in Marseille.

A fundamental aspect of these houses was the economy, both in the materials used and in the modulation of the different elements of housing, for which Le Corbusier developed a system of proportions which he called Modulor.

The Modulor

In an attempt to find an independent measurement system to the inch and the meter, and that would be more reklated to the proportions of the human body, Le Corbusier developed the Modulor, based on the Fibonacci series and the golden section. For him, it meant a "set of harmonic measures appropriate to the human scale, universally applicable to mechanical things."


Many of the compositional elements of the buildings of Le Corbusier, in particular the housing units, were designed based on the proportions of the modulor, both in plan and section, from the general dimensions to the small details.

The exteriors of the Unité de Berlin are decorated with depictions of the Modulor.

OVERVIEW IN BERLIN

After the devastation of Berlin by the Allies at the end of World War II, hundreds of thousands of Berliners were left homeless. During the reconstruction the authorities prioritized the construction of affordable housing complexes.
In 1956 the Berlin Planning Committee received a proposal from Le Corbusier to build one of his unités. The committee wanted to capitalize on the fame of Swiss architect and found him a location for his building on the Charlottenburg hil , with superb views of the city (this is very unusual, as noted by Living Numbers magazine, as an architect is usually told a location for a project, not a project is set somewhere in the city after it is designed).

View of Berlin from the Unité.

The implementation of the Berlin unité took place between 1956-59, when the city was not yet divided by the wall.

LOCATION

The multifamily unit is very close to the monumental Olympic Stadium built by the architect Werner March for the Berlin Olympics in 1936 during the Third Reich.

See location on Google Maps
Views of Berlin's Olympic Stadium, built by the Nazis between 1934-36. Hitler favored a simple but monumental neoclassical architecture.

The unit is located on a small hill, in the middle of a vast park.


Unlike the pompous megalomaniac prelude to the stadium, the access to the unité is indirect, through a winding road that approaches from the northwest and allows a general visual perception of the block, a resource also used by Le Corbusier in his approach to other works, such as the church at Ronchamp, for example.


UNITÉ IN BERLIN

Le Corbusier's proposal for Berlin includes 530 apartments distributed in 17 levels. However, they are accessed only through 9 "streets" which are actually quite wide corridors, much wider than those of a common residential building, where residents would supposedly enjoy social interaction.

Section and typical plant of the building.

This is because the homes are duplex, that is to say, a two-story apartment, and have internal stairs, enjoying more spaciousness than many of the apartments today.

Some views of the original apartments, expressing comfort and modernity

Each house also has separate balconies, forming a grid than can be seen from the exterior. This allows light to enter, but protects the inside of excessive solar radiation.


Le Corbusier intended to express the individuality of each department through series of color tones applied in the large white canvas which is the building's facade.


The idea of using color to give some character to the repetitive facade has been used in subsequent residential buildings throughout the world, such as the recent Shinonome Canal Court in Tokyo Bay, by Toyo Ito, Riken Yamamoto and others .

One of the "internal streets", unusually wide for this type of building. However, they evoked me a hospital.

The finishing, as this light, is pretty simple.

Details of the inner circulations. Unlike the large windows within the apartments, these public spaces are more introverted and have small windows.

Unlike other unités, like Marseille, Berlin has little additional facilities. At the beginning a children's nursery, a post office, a small supermarket and a bank were added, but they do not work anymore.


L'UNITÉ YESTERDAY AND TODAY

The Unit was created as a economic multifamily housing complex. Here poor families settled, and there are some media compared the housing units with a honeycomb. Over time the building was sold to the private company Präzisa, and many of its original occupants 50 years ago have moved or have simply died.

"Happiness in a honeycomb cells" criticized the German newspapers.

Despite criticism, the Unité was massively occupied due to the shortage of housing.

However, despite what you might expect, we find the building in good condition and very well maintained by its residents. This is because in addition to some of their original occupants, most people are architects, artists and intellectuals who are proud to live in a very prestigious building by Le Corbusier.

The "open plan" designed by Le Corbusier as a spatial relationship with the environment is today a public parking lot.

Although the building has lost its original social role for which it was designed and has become a sort of elitist habitat, on the other hand this situation has allowed the unité (now called Corbusierhaus) to endure more than 50 years in very good condition.

SEE ALSO:

- Other works of Le Corbusier.

• Curutchet House. La Plata, Argentina (1949-53).
• Museum of Western Art. Tokyo, Japan. (1959)

- Multifamily Housing

• Nakagin Capsule Tower, Tokyo, Japan. Kisho Kurokawa (1970-72)
• Nexus World, Fukuoka, Japan. Isozaki, Koolhaas, Portzampark, Holl, etc. (1991)
• Shinonome Canal Court, Tokyo, Japan. Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma and others (2004)

An excellent host, the architect Marco Ramos, who has visited several works of Le Corbusier, led me to the Unité in Berlin showing me many details that I have shared in this post.