SANAA / KUMIKO INUI: DIOR IN TOKYO

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Omotesando is, along with Ginza, one of the most important commercial areas in Tokyo dedicated to the fashion, housing a constellation of the world's most famous fashion brands and where they have gathered, as in few places in the planet, notable works by major Japanese and international architectural firms.

Several projects of renowned Japanese architects populate the areas of Omotesando and Ginza, such as Fumihiko Maki (Spiral Building), Tadao Ando (Omotesando Hills, hhstyle Armani Casa and Collezione), Toyo Ito (Tod's and Mikimoto ) and Kisho Kurokawa (headquarters of the Nursing Association). In addition, there are some works by foreign offices, such as Prada by Herzog and DeMeuron, Gyre by MVRDV and Mansion Hermes by Renzo Piano.

This post will be dedicated to the Tokyo offices of the internationally famous brand Dior, which commissioned their Omotesando and Ginza branches to SANAA (Sejima and Nishikawa Architects & Associates) and Kumiko Inui, respectively.

Some of the works of architecture's most famous shopping boulevard congregate near Omotesando.

SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa)
OMOTESANDO DIOR (2003)

The proposal for Dior by SANAA is minimalist and simple, as many of other works by this office. It's a great prism of glass and metal, austere and without ornamentation. However, it is based on a conceptual "skin", which becomes an element that allows a different degree of visual interaction with the interior of the building.

Photo courtesy of Galinsky

To achieve this result, a translucent acrylic coating is used, placed behind the glass. The opacity of the acrylic is different at each level, so the lighting effects seen from outside also varies, both during the day (according to the light variations by the time of the day or the weather status), and especially at night, when the building is illuminated from within, and looks like wearing a thin, lightweight clothing.

Photos courtesy of Ichisan and Haseo

The acrylic curtain also allows a separation between the outside (a facade designed according to the architectural principles of SANAA) and the interior (occupied with a more commercial criterion for the Dior store). In this regard, Kazuo Sejima says:

"Mr. Arnault is a very rich man, and he wants to sell as much Dior as possible. And we're not so interested in it. We separate divide the exterior and interior. The exterior is very beautiful and behind the wall is their intention (she refers to the company). We try to keep some conflict. "

Still, SANAA managed to design som experimental interior details, for the perceptual self-exploration. For example, in the dressings, instead of mirrors, they proposed real-time projections of the user.

Kumiko Inui
GINZA DIOR, 2004

This Dior building, whose facade was designed by young architect Kumiko Inui, also explores the concept of skin, in a simple but powerful way.

While the building is a quite common rectangular box-shaped, is the renovation of the facade which gives it a special character.

This is a double skin that wraps the building, made of white metal perforated in different patterns, creating an effect of texture and depth which, despite the hardness of the material, affords to give lightness to the facade.

Again, it is at night when the double screen produces an almost magical effect, thanks to the fiber optic lighting that filters through the pattern formed by thousands of holes of varying diameter that are arranged alternately in horizontal and diagonal directions.

SEE ALSO:
- SHOPS AND COMMERCIAL FACILITIES.

• De Beers, Ginza. Jun Matsui.
• Gyre, MRDV
• Maison Hermes, Renzo Piano
• Namba Parks, Osaka
• TOD'S Omotesando, Toyo Ito
• Omotesando Hills. Tokyo, Japan (Tadao Ando).

Do not run over her, please!

JUN MITSUI: DE BEERS, GINZA

Photo courtesy of David Panevino .

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A few meters away from the Mikimoto Ginza 2 , designed by Toyo Ito , lies an unusual building: De Beers (2005-2008), a project by Jun Mitsui for the prestigious company De Beers, specialized in diamonds. The building has an undulating facade, in which its winding curves contrast with the regular horizontal pattern that generates it.

LOCATION

De Beers stands in the shopping district of Ginza, one of the most important commercial areas in the Japanese capital. The building is located on the corner of Maronie St and a perpendicular minor street. In a plot of ​​approximately 340 m2, the building occupies a projected area of ​​4022 m2.

View Location in Google Maps

CONCEPT

Due to its location on a corner, the building highlights its evocative and sensual profile, although given the narrowness of the road and the presence of other neighboring tall buildings, we must stand back to appreciate it in its entirety.

"Bizarre architecture". Photo courtesy of Ballet Lausanne .

The architect said to have been inspired by "the twisting form of light in motion" and the sensual curves of "the female outline". Whatever his inspiration, the truth is that the facade facing the Maronie street is a regular pattern that has been undulated (without being deformed, as Frank Gehry's Dancing House building in Prague) and thus presents a dynamic and agile composition, without losing the character of the grid that generates it.


This curtain wall is composed of stainless steel bars that descend vertically as ribbons, crossed by horizontal tabs. This arrangement allows the reflection of light in a peculiar way, which changes as the hours pass.


To locate the entrance in a subtle but hierarchical way, the steel frame was interrupted to accommodate a white cube.


Towards the minor street the facade is orthogonal. The architect separated the area closer the curved facade from another composition based in elongated ceramic tiles -that somehow reminded me of the Suntory Art Museum's lateral facade- but whose arrangement also suggests a curve.



This façade culminaties on a "V", which houses a two-story mezzanine, a stunning glass roof that faces the street, while water tanks and machinery are located in the rear. This solarium on the top enhances the dramatic form of the building.

Photo courtesy of Manuel a.69

PLANS

Foundation, two basements and Level 1.

Level 2-5

Level 6-9

Levels 10 and 11 and two levels of the roof.

Sections

DETAILS

Photos courtesy of tanakawho

Photo courtesy of tanakawho

Photo courtesy of Justin James

An avant-garde idea or superficial formalism? Or the combination of both? The truth is that recently in the Japanese capital several architects have been experimenting with "skins" or "screens" glass, providing dynamism to otherwise static buildings, from the sober Renzo Piano's proposal in the Maison Hermes to the voluptuous curtain designed by Kisho Kurokawa in the National Arts Centre . What is undeniable is that the De Beers by Jun Mitsui is an ornamental , photogenic, superficial, glitzy and shiny building... the same qualities of the diamonds that are displayed inside.

SEE ALSO
- COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS.

• Mansion Hermes. Renzo Piano
• Mikimoto Ginza 2, Tokyo, Japan. Toyo Ito.
• Namba Parks, Osaka
• 
  

RENZO PIANO: MAISON HERMES, TOKYO

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Along with the commercial buildings designed by Japanese masters, such as Mikimoto Ginza by Toyo Ito and De Beer by Jun Mitsui, that we have discussed previously, we now present the work of Renzo Piano in Ginza. I recommend using the interactive map of this blog to get a better idea of the density and interaction of these projects in the urban space.

Hermes building is very close to the Sony building. In the background, notice the pink prism building for Mikimoto Ginza Toyo Ito 2 .

Renzo Piano Maison Hermès, 1998-2001

Renzo Piano, a Pritzker Prize laureate in 1998, enjoys high prestige in Japan after completing his impressive Kansai Airport. Piano's challenge this time was to create a sober and elegant building but at the same time innovative, so that would meet the demands of his wealthy patron.
The sleek tower designed in Tokyo by the Italian master for the French billionaire Jean Louis Dumas, is located in Ginza, very close to Kumiko Inui's Dior and a few meters from the multicolor Sony building, designed by Yoshinobu Ashihara in 1966, with which shares a similar height.

Sony Building, Ginza Maison Hermes and Dior are very close from each other.

The 15-story Maison Hermes Tower forms a narrow and thin 11 m block facing Harumi Dori, a main street, and extends 45 m in length to a side street. This building, of an area of ​​6.000 m2, containing shops, workshops, media areas, offices, exhibition areas and a terrace garden.

The concept of this building was, according Piano, making it a sort of "magic lamp" inspired by Japanese paper lamps, and for that purpose he coated the facade, 45 feet high, of a grid of 13,000 translucent glass blocks, 42.8 x 42.8 x of 12 cm, specially made for this occasion by the company Seves.

It is remarkable how this great glass screen can resemble to the Japanese paper screens. In both cases, during the day shades and hues can be seen through them, and at night the interior light is dispersed gently through the blurred surfaces, although in the case of glass, the multiple reflections of neon neighbors must be added.

Photos courtesy of Tanakawho and Purple Cloud

The main entrance faces Harumi Dori, where the skin of glass blocks is removed to show a transparent glass entrance.

Towards the lower street, on the contrary, the glass-block facade reaches the floor, and at a pedestrian level this web of translucent blocks square is dotted with clear glass blocks, showing some of the Hermes products , in an almost casual but elegant way.

Towards this side, the great skin is segmented into two parts. Precisely in this rupture is located a sculptural movable metallic element that enhances this secondary entrance.

Photo courtesy of Purple Cloud

The glass screen looks like a skin, slightly separated from the building by a metal structure that protrudes from the concrete slabs on each floor. Inside the skin there is also a metal frame that holds the glass blocks and gives them flexibility in case of earthquakes, behaving like a skeleton with moving joints that allows a controlled displacement and deformation of the wall, preventing the collapse of the blocks glass. The blocks have been specially designed to hide the metal gasket inside.
An interesting detail can be observed in the corner, since special curved blocks were created to give continuity to the skin effect.

It can be seen here the structural system behind the glass screen.

The skin also has an acoustic effect, providing internal insulation from the frenetic street noise outside the building.


In coming posts i will discuss further examples of the idea of glass curtain wall such as the National Art Center Kisho Kurokawa, and the concept of translucent skin in a fashion store, explored also by SANAA (Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa Kazujo)'s Dior Omotesando. Furthermore, is possible to compare the relationship between glass structure in Renzo Piano's Maison Hermes and Herzog and De Meuron´s Prada , which we will also publish soon.

SEE ALSO
- COMMERCIAL.

• Mikimoto Ginza 2, Tokyo, Japan. Toyo Ito.
• Namba Parks, Osaka

Renzo Piano and Rena Dumas at Maison Hermes. Photo courtesy of Roger Lab

TOYO ITO: MIKIMOTO GINZA 2

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Some of the most renown works by Toyo Ito are his commercial buildings in Tokyo where he carried out some experimental concepts in design and construction methods. In this occasion I will comment his building for the company Mikimoto, in the Ginza shopping district. In a future post I will refer to Tod's, an experimental commercial building in Omotesando .

LOCATION

Ginza, literally means "place of silver" and has been a commercial district of Tokyo from the Edo period in the early seventeenth century. Today, Ginza is home to numerous boutiques and fashion stores of the world's most exclusive brands and has a remarkable density of buildings designed by famous architects. Here you can find the Maison Hermes by Renzo Piano the Dior store Kumiko Inui and De Beers store, by Jun Mitsui. Not far from there is the Tokyo International Forum by Rafael Vinoly .

See location on Google Maps

In the corner of Maronie St.and Namiki St. the famous Mikimoto Pearls company installed since 1893 , and after 110 years a new building designed by Toyo Ito was constructed on the same site. It is called Mikimoto Ginza, and this slender building 48 m high, built on an area of 274 m2 was completed in 2005.

CONCEPT

The building of apparent simplicity comprises a prism perforated by a series of irregular windows, like a Swiss cheese, apparently arranged at random. However, since some of these are placed in the corners (where typically would be a column) and as we look closely at the fine finish of the facade, is evident that a much a more sophisticated construction system was used.

The concept is based on the building is held by its facade, leaving the internal spaces column-free.




The shape of the windows is part of an elaborate geometry of triangles and squares, which resemble a fractal composition.

Drawings courtesy of Toyo Ito & Associates Architects

CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM

Because of the design, it was required a strong structure that would allow to place openings freely, but at the same time that would not easily expand when heated. For this reason Ito opted for a mixed system of metal plates and concrete. Steel plates of 1.2 cm were prepared and fixed by a web of studs in order to maintain a uniform thickness of 20 cm, and then concrete was poured between them.

The plates were then transported and assembled on site. It took a total of 330 pieces to build the facade.


Finally, they proceeded to weld the plates and paint them. This process was done by hand and required up to 6 different stages of polishing and painting to ensure a smooth finish that the customer required.

Photos and drawings courtesy of Toyo Ito & Associates Architects

As we approached and see the detail, we were impressed by the quality of the finishing and how finely this large metal facade was polished.

Photo courtesy of Green Scarlet

"Although the skin is built with 12 mm steel plate, when you weld it everything tends to bend. Furthermore, if you don’t do it perfectly, at the end you see the weld joints. To achieve a perfectly flat surface we had to work a lot. We, the engineers, the workers… We, the engineers, the workers… all had to experiment with a lot of different solutions. "

Stefano Mirti, from Domus magazine, asked about the relationship of their work with technology, Ito says,

"Actually, the sense and meaning of technology in my works is changing. In the past the technology was highly visible. It was presented in a visible way. Now it is different. Technology is now something I hide, you have to look for it, you don’t see it, you can't see it. It is an element to be used and exploited in an indirect way. Before, I used to envision an architecture that nobody could touch, impossible to grasp and hold. Now, again, it is different. Now, I want to do an architecture that you can touch and feel. Now I am working on the physical reality, on the object, on the real. This interests me now."

Photos courtesy of Purple Cloud

The tower is basically a rectangular box, and from a distance, resembles the typical skyscraper. However, it is at night when probably it becomes more appealing, when lights of different colors enhance the irregular windows and display the glamorous interior.

Photos courtesy of Green Scarlet

Beautiful photo of the interior stairs, courtesy of Ra Xosi

SEE ALSO
- OTHER WORKS BY TOYO ITO

• Egg of Winds (Tokyo)
• Sendai Mediatheque
• Shinonome Canal Court, Tokyo (with Kengo Kuma and others)
• Tower of Winds (Yokohama)
• Za Koenji Theater

- COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS.

• Namba Parks, Osaka