Urasando Terrace

裏参道テラス

A six story mixed use building, in Jingumae, Tokyo
As you enter the block from Omote-sando and Aoyama-dori, two of Tokyo’s most infamous streets, you will come across a neighborhood where living, business and work and well-integrated. The client asked us to help them realize an architecture that would preserve the value of this neighborhood for the future. The site is on a narrow backstreet, squeezed between Aoyama-dori and Maisen-dori. There are a number of unique stores scattered along the street, but it is not yet mature enough to feel a sense of linear connection as you stroll through the town. While considering a tasteful elevation that would express the street-like spatial flow, we came up with an architecture in which the street could curl up in 3 dimensions. The common language for this project then became the terrace. Facing the large green space created by the neighboring development, we secured the largest terrace possible on each floor. The terrace then becomes a spatial asset enriching the experience of leased space, whether it be for living, working or tenant programs. By integrating the terrace with the three-dimensional alleyway that continues from the ground floor, the architectural principle also benefits the emergency evacuation, security, and leasing plan. Recently, there have been increasing attempts at tactical urbanism, using private development to move urban planning forward. The “Nono Aoyama” project, located next to this project, is a perfect example of this. The hundreds of feudal lord gardens that were created during the Edo period are among the greatest scenic assets for the city of Tokyo, and while this project is a reliable action to regenerate that history, we were more conscious of the historic relationship between the gardens and the alleyway, and an architecture that connects them like renga poetry.
It may be that projects of this scale, private projects actively conscious of urban planning actions, are trying to create a unified urban philosophy that transcends the site. This is a very important experiment in architecture, cities, and the local economy, an attempt to link disparate individual actions together.