The Swatch Group's new flagship structure in Tokyo, the Nicolas G. Hayek Center, featured in ArchitectureWeek No. 416, is built with an array of innovative elements, ranging from elevating showrooms and multistory retractable glass exterior walls to moving floors for reducing seismic forces induced in the building. — Published 2009.0401
The new Swatch flagship store in Tokyo's Ginza district immediately stands out from the surrounding high-end fashion boutiques on this densely packed street. There is no doorway, no visible sign, and no glass storefront. Instead, a towering four-story void in the streetscape seems to signify a civic-scale entry. — Published 2009.0218
Kengo Kuma strikes a chord when he talks about the inspirations for one of his most successful projects: the new Suntory Museum of Art, built in 2007 into the side of the new Tokyo Midtown development. — Published 2008.0903
International practice sounds glamorous and fun, but is it something that your firm should consider?
Overseas work can be expensive, disruptive, and a serious distraction. Some firms have even destroyed their domestic practice by diverting too much energy and too many resources to foreign work. — Published 2008.0326
According to architect Kisho Kurokawa, the new National Art Center Tokyo is a perfect expression of his philosophy of symbiosis. Rather than trying to iron out irregularities and resolve contradictions into what he calls a "dull, flat harmony," his distinctly non-Western idea seeks to apply conflicts and tensions in positive ways to achieve interesting and energizing effects. — Published 2007.0404
The designs of Japanese architect Kengo Kuma critically engage the materiality of architecture in order to challenge its usual meanings, and in so doing, to thwart the emergence of architecture as an object. As he has shown in many of his projects, Kuma is determined to "dissolve" the materials that he uses, or to choose materials that are less substantial, stating, "If materials are thoroughly particlized, they are transient, like rainbows." — Published 2005.0914
Designed by architect Jun Aoki, the new flagship store of the French fashion house Louis Vuitton on Tokyo's Omotesando Boulevard resembles a pile of trunks of different sizes and patterns, honoring Vuitton's origin as a trunk manufacturer. Examine the facade more closely, though, and you'll see an industrial-looking system of wire mesh curtains that create the fashionable effect. — Published 2002.1211
There is a new landmark in Ginza, one of the leading shopping and business districts of Tokyo. Designed by the Italian architecture firm, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the building is the corporate headquarters and store of Hermès Japan, a company famous for its handmade leather bags and apparel. — Published 2002.0911
