Modern Tokyo urban development designed by Fumihiko Maki unfolded over the course of 3 decades
This complex of apartments, shops and offices has all the elements of so many "mixed-use" developments which are cropping up in the United States recently, but with a few key differences. First and foremost, the complex has been built over the course of three decades, expanding and adapting with time. In addition the design is modern, the scale is intimate and the result is brilliant.
The basic idea is intelligently urban (an early modern New Urbanism) with much attention paid to the "interaction of facade and street space, understanding the sidewalk as a place of activity." The development also features a network of paths and stairways which connect the various levels of the hillside complex and provide pedestrian circulation through the site.
What is remarkable is that the complex blends so well into its context without resorting to pseudo-historicism. If only more American cities and developers would learn this lesson of incremental development and detailed place making.
Firm: Maki and Associates
Link: Hillside Terrace
