Tokyo Architectural Highlights I

Every morning I pass by the Prada Building in Omotesando, a building by Herzog and de Meuron.

The Prada Building was designed by Herzog and de Meuron Architects in 2003.This 33 meter high building has a façade like a membrane which is built out of wedge shaped elements that frame flat, convex and concave windows.The picture above I took at 6.00 a.m., when the sun was shining on the east side of the building and highlighting the convex elements, maybe better seen in this picture.

Herzog and de Meuro describe the philosophy of the building as follows:

“The shape of the building is substantially influenced by the angle of incidence of the local profile. Depending on where the viewer is standing, the body of the building will look more like a crystal or like an archaic type of building with a saddle roof. The ambivalent, always changing and oscillating character of the building’s identity is heightened by the sculptural effect of its glazed surface structure. The rhomboid-shaped grid on the façade is clad on all sides with a combination of convex, concave or flat panels of glass. These differing geometries generate facetted reflections, which enable viewers, both inside and outside the building, to see constantly changing pictures and almost cinematographic perspectives of Prada products, the city and themselves.

But the grid on the façade is not simply an optical illusion; it is actively incorporated in the structural engineering and, in conjunction with the vertical cores of the building, it supports the ceilings. The horizontal tubing stiffens the structure and also provides more private areas for the changing rooms and the checkout on the otherwise open, light-flooded floors of the building.”

It is not easy to document this fluid appearance of the building. Here are some examples to illustrate the differently shaped panels of glass.

Transparency, i.e a view to the inside of the building is not always guaranteed.

But were you can you get a feeling for the transparency of the building and the play of light inside out and vice versa. A must see if you pass by the Omotesando/Harajuku area of Tokyo.