Location: Shibuya-ku,Tokyo,Japan

Use: Retail Store

Site area: 191.12㎡

Total floor area: 957㎡

Structure: Steel framed reinforced concrete structure

Year: 2013

Photo: Kozo Takayama

This eight-story commercial building—located on a corner lot at right angles to an alleyway and Omotesando Avenue—is actually surrounded by Tod’s L-shaped Omotesando Building by Toyo Ito. The façade of the former old building faced Omotesando exclusively, so the side façade, facing the alleyway, was exposed awkwardly like the backside of a building. Thus, this project tries to change this relationship to the Tod’s building by creating a diagonal orientation with an irregularly shaped circle. The building’s structure is composed of multiple leaf-shaped columns made from steel reinforced concrete and arranged on the outer shell. The wood-like texture on these columns was developed by pouring concrete into a wooden mold.