East side story
20.05.12
The first phase of the project, which was completed in March 2011, has added two new shopping malls, a 16-storey office building and five residential buildings providing 1,033 new apartments to the east of the station. Last month, Conran & Partners began work on the second and final phase of the redevelopment, which is scheduled to be completed in 2015.
When this phase is completed, it will add two commercial buildings, a hotel, cinema complex and new public park to the area. The design concept for the redevelopment was for a transition from the city to nature, says Hisaya Haraguchi, general manager of the architectural design division at RIA, the firm responsible for everything from the basic scheme to the architectural design of the redevelopment.
Four companies were invited to present proposals: Cesar Pelli and Associates, architects of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Japan’s own Kengo Kuma, who designed the Tamagawa Takashimaya Shopping Centre on the other side of the station, Kohn, Pedersen and Fox Associates, architects of the Shanghai World Financial Center, and Conran & Partners.
Source: Financial Times