Tokyo, Japan
Led by Shohei Shigematsu and his team at OMA together with executive architects NTT Facilities, the new Harajuku Quest shopping center for NTT Urban Development features stepped terraces and a green rooftop to house retail and dining spaces as well as a rooftop with living walls.
Located on a site between Omotesando and Oku-Harajuku in Japan’s capital, Harajuku Quest is designed to bridge the two areas.
Uniquely, the façade is designed to have different profiles depending on which neighborhood it is facing.
The side facing Omotesando has a “monolithic, transparent face” clad in glass, which is set back at the top and the ground to create a convex shape, while the Harajuku side of the building has stepped terraces.
The layout is designed so that the facade towards Harajuku would open the building up towards the neighborhood, which is known for its creativity and distinctive youth culture.
The second of the stepped terraces on this side will have a public datum that the studio designed to be used as a plaza that could hold cultural events.
“The conjunction of Omotesando and Oku-Harajuku embodies a duality of urban context as well as Tokyo’s fashion and retail culture,” states Shigematsu.
“It was essential for the new building to bridge the two areas and express two stories,” he adds.”
“Like two sides of the same coin, a single building conveys alternate personalities, connected by a new public corridor. Harajuku Quest acts as both a visual and programmatic convergence point of Omotesando and Oku-Harajuku–a gathering place where visitors can experience the activities and aura of global fashion and local cultural scene simultaneously.”
Harajuku Quest is expected to be completed in February 2025.
Project: Harajuku Quest
Architects: The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)
Lead Architect: Shohei Shigematsu
Design Team: Takeshi Mitsuda, Timothy Tse, Yuzaburo Tanaka, Kohei Sugishita, Chiao Yang, Fernan Bilik, and Tetsuo Kobayashi
Executive Architects: NTT Facilities Inc.
Lighting Designers: Lighting Planners Associates
General Contractor: Kumagai Gumi
Client: NTT Urban Development
