roppongi hills : streetscape - street furniture in tokyo...........................................................................................................................................................
......................... shop .................. competitions .............. education ................ interviews ................... snapshots ................... history .......... contemporary roppongi hills, tokyo © 2003 takashi murakami / kaikai kiki, all right reserved.
--- the largest city redevelopment in japan, called 'roppongi hills' opened recently, spring 2003, at the center of tokyo. the sprawling development with luxury housing and designer shops intent on surviving the growing threat of an office-space glut and eager to keep japan competitive as a destination for foreign visitors and investment. this new landmark complex area will also give tokyo a much needed cultural center, combining culture, education, business, residence and commerce. fourteen years in the planning and three years in construction, roppongi hills occupies 11.6 hectares. the 280 billion yen ($2.3 billion) project, offers a spaciousness with foliage that is rare in congested tokyo. roppongi hills features japan's biggest 270-meter-tall, 53- floor office tower with an observatory providing a panoramic view of tokyo at the top and hosts about 200 shops and restaurants. everything is new. everything is perfect... http://www.roppongihills.com/jp/index.html http://www.mori.co.jp/residence/66/en_map.html http://www.mori.co.jp/business/roppongi/en_index.html --- museum MAM / MAC, the new mori art museum (named after the brainchild of japanese superdeveloper minoru mori / uncle of artist mariko mori) slated to open on oct. 18, 2003, is also located at the top of the skyscraper. uk's david elliott, appointed director last year following five years at stockholm's state-owned moderna museet, sees the new, private art center becoming the cultural hub of all of tokyo. in addition to displaying contemporary visual and media art, design, and architecture, this new art beacon will commission artwork, organize art education programs, coordinate artist and curator exchanges, conduct research, publish and, in general, stimulate the japanese contemporary art scene. rather than competing with contemporary art spaces like the hara museum and the museum of contemporary art, Elliott sees MAM/ MAC providing mutual benefits. the mori art Museum opens with an exhibition named 'happiness: a survival guide for art and life' http://www.moriartscenter.org/en/index.html --- streetscape - street furniture in tokyo one of the most eye-catching aspects of roppongi hills is its incorporation of public art and design into the urban landscape. 11 designers contributed to roppongi hills streetscape project: andrea ranzi, ettore sottsas, droog design, ron arad, jasper morrison, tokujin yoshioka, thomas sandell, karim rashid, shigeru uchida, toyo ito, katsuhiko hibino. the designers were approached to develop an idea for street furniture : 'a resting place exploring the images of forest in urban life'. their works represent a wide variety of styles, they are thought provoking, highly interactive and provide visitors with opportunities for thought and relaxation. the streetscape pictures were taken by our friend eizo okada (publisher of http://www.dezain.net) who reported directly from tokyo's streets. enjoy! --- ------- monthly designboom newsletter ------- ------- ? comments and contact us ? -------	logo the logo for roppongi hills promotion were chosen through an international competition. the selected winner is the british designer jonathan barnbrook. advertising murales new characters that artist takashi murakami created for the roppongi hills complex ads project by shigeru uchida photos © eizo okada --- contemporary japanese designer shigeru uchida plays with the 'new wave' . project by jasper morrison photos © eizo okada --- jasper morrison transformed the chair he designed in 1998 for the 'la tourette monastery' into an endless public bench. project by jürgen bey / droog design photos © eizo okada --- droog selected jürgen bey for this commission. bey got a strip of 7 m long, 1.25 m wide and a height of 1.65 m. the designer allowed himself to be inspired by the different positions people assume on the street. he made pictures of them and observed how they moved and took different positions during the day. next he made a selection of peoples silhouettes and arranged them to form a natural order in time. computer morphing from one position to the next over the available 7 metres produced the basic shape of the bench. after that bey added the shapes of old furniture. the bench is called ‘day-tripper’ and is made of polyurethane foam covered with glass reinforced polyester with a silk screen flower pattern. project by tokujin yoshioka photos © eizo okada --- 'chair that disappears in rainy days' what would isamu noguchi have created if he were still here? tokujin yoshioka executed the concept with such a question in mind. much like when shards of glass are dropped into water and their outline gradually disappears, this chair has similar effect in the rain. the chair is made from a massive block of glass that is crafted by special techniques (the same material is used for the astronomical telephoto lens of the 8m giant observatory telescopes) project by toyo ito photos © eizo okada --- the 'ripples' bench by toyo ito shows polka dots. project by andrea branzi photos © eizo okada --- ironic urban living unit by andra branzi project by katsuhiko hibino photos © eizo okada --- katsuhiko hibino freely manipulates every kind of material. project by ettore sottsass photos © eizo okada --- the austere walls keep the benches isolated from the traffic, a project by ettore sottsass. project by thomas sandell photos © eizo okada --- the art of japanese garden is closely associated with the art of the stone arrangement which are both integral parts of its architecture. giant stones made of corian® by dupont™ by thomas sandell. project by ron arad photos © eizo okada --- design is also about the ephemeral nature and transience. ron arad had the idea of a natural 'loop'. project by karim rashid photos © eizo okada --- 'it is sensual, romantic, and super comfortable, without being nostalgic, derivative or contrived,' karim rashid says.