Tokyo, Japan
Museum Tower Kyobashi is a new building typology by Nikken Sekkei for Nagasaka Corporation and the Ishibashi Foundation that combines offices with a museum in one iconic tower.
Museum Tower Kyobashi is a mixed-use, super high-rise tower that integrates offices and a museum into one space, fulfilling its driving concept of “opening up to the city and connecting to the environment.”
The new high-rise, located in front of Tokyo Station in Japan’s capital city, features cutting-edge technology and is mindful of the social environment requested by the client.
Museum Tower Kyobashi has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Awards Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
A central challenge to the project was to house the Artizon Museum (formerly known as the Bridgestone Museum of Art), which holds a world-class art collection.
The building becomes thus a prototype for a new kind of urban art museum.
The high-rise towers above the city as a symbolic centerpiece of economy, society, and civilization in the 21st century.
The other challenge was addressing the environmental concerns of the future, while still integrating the many layers of history of a historic city.
Thus, a skyscraper was developed that minimizes its environmental impact and creates a new townscape.
Instead of separating the offices and the museum, or dividing the building into upper and lower parts, the areas have been integrated with each other and into the city.
The façade of the upper part of the building is one of the most distinctive features.
It is based on traditional Japanese architecture with balconies that are covered with louvers made of 80 millimeter single aluminum extrusion.
Their placement and orientation differ and were determined by computational analysis based on environmental parameters such as solar control, glare control, and energy-saving purposes.
The overall design creates a dynamic and changing appearance according to the time of the day or the angle from which the façade is viewed.
The façade is an environmental device that connects the interior and exterior vertically while opening up horizontally.
From the exterior design to the interior, the integration of both hard and soft aspects of the building ties it to the city and surrounding environment in an iconic way.
Workers and visitors alike are invited to enjoy the rich cultural experiences within its walls.
Project: Museum Tower Kyobashi
Architects: NIKKEN SEKKEI Ltd.
General Contractor: Toda Corporation
Client: Nagasaka Corporation; Ishibashi Foundation
Photographers: Harunori Noda and Nacasa & Partners Inc.
