A new office tower (height 185 m) and a residential tower (height 220 m) will be built on both sides of the existing Toranomon Hills Mori Tower. Together they will form the new Toranomon business and lifestyle center. (Competition proposal image). Image © ingenhoven architects

ingenhoven architects has released its design for the Toranomon Project, a new business and lifestyle development that will include a 175,000-square-meter office tower and a 122,000-square-meter residential tower, which will become Tokyo’s highest residential building at approximately 220 meters tall.

Located in the Toranomon area of Tokyo, the project will be built around the existing Toranomon Hills Mori Tower, with respect for the existing structure, but with its own identity as a set of nodes in the larger urban green network.

Based on the idea of the “vertical garden city,” the central tower in the design will feature lushly planted public pedestrian decks that fan out to create a stepped urban landscape and an “area for exchange and movement, bringing the greenery of the surrounding gardens of the historic Atago Shrine up and onto the buildings.”

Toranomon office tower: The lower decks of the of ce tower create several areas for exchange and movement. (Competition proposal image). Image © ingenhoven architects

Additionally, these green terraces help to reduce the urban heat island effect and air pollution, while also shading the fully glazed façades of the building, which balances the desire for maximum daylight with the energy performance requirements of a high-performance building envelope.

The planted terraces enhance the energy of the Toranomon residential tower and create continuity with the ground plan. (Competition proposal image). Image © ingenhoven architects

Moreover, the project will utilize other green technologies like a cogeneration system, grey water recycling, rainwater harvesting, photovoltaics, and high-efficiency lighting and mechanical equipment.

Openness and an inviting visual transition between inside and outside characterise the office tower. (Competition proposal image). Image © ingenhoven architects

The project is slated for completion in 2019. Learn more here.

Architects: Ingenhoven Architects

Location: Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan

Area: 297000.0 sqm

Project Year: 2019

Photographs: ingenhoven architects

News via ingenhoven architects.

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© Aitor Ortiz

Architects: IDOM

Location: Euzko Gudariak Kalea, 13, 48940 Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain

Lead Architects: Iñaki Garai Zabala, Inés López Taberna, Ricardo Moutinho

Area: 8170.0 sqm

Project Year: 2015

Photographs: Aitor Ortiz

Site Supervision: Iñaki Garai Zabala, Inés López Taberna

Structures: INAK

Mep: Diego Zarranz Sarobe

Building Physics And Sustainability: Blas Bersistain

Ict Engineering: Mikel Fernández

Costs: Agurtzane Insa

Client: Construcciones Sukia Eraikuntzak S.A

Construction Company: Construcciones Sukia Eraikuntzak S.A

Building Engineer: Iker Alkiaga

Budget Of Material Execution: 3.859.809 euros

Cost/M2 : 472,4 euros/ m2

© Aitor Ortiz

The 58 subsidized dwellings developed by Sukia are located on the edge of a hillside in the municipality of Leioa, therefore having great visibility in the surroundings. The Masterplan defined a base that would occupy the garages level. This plinth would then support, as if it were a podium, four blocks which, also dictated by the council, would have the same materials as the façade. Two of these blocks make up the development we are dealing with.

© Aitor Ortiz

Agreed upon with Neinor, responsible for the development of the other two blocks that complete the set, the chosen image was to be defined by white bricks for the parapet areas and dark aluminium, nearly black, for the window ones. The appearance of the blocks would be completed by the set of alternating round-shaped projections. This strategy gives these two blocks a certain image of lightness and optimism, far from the typical massive aspect normally offered by house developments, particularly council ones. Additionally, the balconies would offer their users incredible views, granted by the privileged location.

Plan

This same formal strategy helped us define both the limit of the development and the entrance to the buildings, which is far from the characteristic entrance hall where a door precisely defines the boundary between the inside and out. As is usual in our projects, in order to define how the building and its immediate urban surroundings would come together, we referred to both the architecture of country houses and their entrance halls and modern architecture. The curved brick walls, the uninterrupted openings and the vegetation follow us through towards the inside in a quest for a fluid relationship without precise limits.

© Aitor Ortiz

Traditional architecture is recovered inside by making the common staircase area the centrepiece, reduced to a minimum in the majority of present-day developments. 

© Aitor Ortiz

Undoubtedly, this area is the contribution that makes a difference to the neighbours. It represents the opportunity for them to build a community, by all valued and well regarded, beyond the individual expression of their own flats. It recuperates community values, so scarce today. Despite the great scale of the patio, the materials, the finishes and the lighting were treated as if an interior. It is everybody’s great living room, illuminated with natural light that comes through seven skylights. 

Section

The blocks have a ground floor and four more storeys, each one with six dwellings, four of which are three-bedroom flats and two two-bedroom ones. The living rooms of the three-bedroom flats are on the corners, duplicating the possibilities of views and those of the two-bedroom dwellings are located on the façade with the best views of the development. The finishes are the typical ones of subsidized housing: plasterboard walls, laminated oak floors and doors, with some details, such as the skirting boards of the jambs, painted in white which help with the perception of amplitude and luminosity. 

© Aitor Ortiz

The structure is made of reinforced concrete and follows a post and slab system. The curved brick envelope is executed with two special pieces that together with a standard piece form continuous patches over a steel frame which serves as a substructure. Heating services are accounted for by individual boilers but with preheating thanks to an installed solar panel system.

© Aitor Ortiz

All in all, a building that serves social needs but also, a building committed to the social values that architecture can offer.

© Aitor Ortiz

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Forbidden City, Beijing, China. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

As recently as a century ago the idea of viewing the world from above was little more than a fantasy: the airplane was still in its infancy, with rocketry and satellites still decades into the future. Those who could not take to the air had no recourse but drawing in order to represent their world from an aerial perspective. This limitation is difficult to imagine today when access to plan photography is never further than the nearest Internet connection. Anyone with a smartphone has, in essence, the entire world in their pocket.

Paris, France. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

What do we do with this power? In becoming a civilization capable of producing these databases, we have increasingly altered the Earth to better suit our needs. The images which satellites produce do not reflect unspoiled wilderness: cities and roads sprawl ever further across the landscape, a clear visual indicator of humanity’s increasing impact on the planet. While plan drawings show us an idea of the future, plan photographs capture change which has already been realized – for better or for worse.

With this in mind, a more pertinent question arises: what does this power compel us to do? Daily Overview posits that it is not enough for us to simply admire the novel aesthetics of satellite imagery. This medium is a chance for us to both marvel at the beauty we have created in the world, and that which we have destroyed. It forces us to comprehend the magnitude of our responsibility to preserve and protect the planet we call home.

With the right frame of mind, satellite imagery can become an instrument for planning in itself – one which will display the consequences of our actions without hesitation or apology. Satellites may not be able to capture images of that which has yet to be, but they can provide us with the inspiration needed to plan civilization’s future with the preservation of the Earth in mind.

Lyon, France. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Mexico City, Mexico. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Fes el Bali, Morocco. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Doha, Qatar. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Dubai, UAE. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Barcelona, Spain. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Forbidden City, Beijing, China. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Berlin, Germany. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Grammichele, Italy. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Guadalajara, Mexico. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Killeen, Texas, USA. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Abu Dhabi, UAE. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Moscow, Russia. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, IncCourtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Orlando International Airport, Florida, USA. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Pesaro, Italy. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Princess Juliana International Airport, Saint Martin. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

San Francisco, California, USA. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

Amsterdam, Netherlands. Image Courtesy of Daily Overview. © Satellite images 2016, DigitalGlobe, Inc

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Contemplating Humanity’s Effect On Planet Earth, From Above

The Power Of The Plan: Drones & Architectural Photography

Daily Overview’s satellite imagery is courtesy of DigitalGlobe.

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© Rasmus Norlander

Architects: Vardehaugen

Location: Lillehammer, Norway

Team : Håkon Matre Aasarød, Berta Gaztelu, Joana Branco, Kurt Breitenstein

Area: 65.0 sqm

Project Year: 2016

Photographs: Rasmus Norlander

© Rasmus Norlander

From the architect. Cabin Vindheim is situated deep into the forest, in the alpine landscape close to Lillehammer / Norway. The cabin is inspired by the classic motif of snowbound cabins, which have only their roofs protruding through the snow. When snow covers the structure the division between architecture and nature becomes blurred, and the roof becomes a man-made slope for ski jumping, toboggan runs and other snow-based activities.

Plan

Section

In spite of a compact floor plan (55m2) the cabin is spatially rich and generous due to the sloping roof and the various uplifts. From the main bedroom and the mezzanine you can even gaze up at the stars and enjoy the northern light, while lying in bed. When resting in the cabin’s bedroom, a large 4m-long window creates the impression of sleeping above the treetops and underneath the stars.

© Rasmus Norlander

© Rasmus Norlander

The building, which is composed of a large living room, a bedroom, a ski preparation room and a small annex with a utility room, is clad in black-stained ore pine. The interior is lighter, fully covered in waxed poplar veneer. The uninterrupted ceiling connects all of the rooms.

© Rasmus Norlander

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