Tokyo, Week 4

Sunday - Tokyo

Sunday was a trip to Tokyo, not just to look at boring architecture stuff, but to get a feel for the life in the city. (yes it was mostly boring architecture stuff)

We got off in a place called Shinagawa, which reminded me a lot of the district we went through in Yokohama. This was mainly commerce-only though so it was very empty on a sunday. I imagine it would be very busy at 8:30 on a weekday morning.

Archi-Depot, Shinagawa

The reason we were in Shinagawa was to visit a well publicised exhibition. At Archi-Depot there was an extensive collection of architectural models, set in a warehouse-like environment.

These weren't any models though, nearly all were the actual models used in concepting and planning the actual buildings produced by the architecture firms which had kindly left them open for display. Among them was the Olympic Gymnasium;

Anyone in my PDE class last year who had the pleasure of the Connect 1:1 project will be very familiar with this structure by Shigeru Ban.

There were some cool stadium structure type models which were a personal favourite.

As well as the Azusa Sekkei proposal for the 2020 Olympic stadium.

There was also a (non official) model of the Frank Gehry House... Blergh.

Sushi

We then went to a Sushi restaurant. This one was on a different level than the last one we visited!

Two levels of conveyor belt, the lower offers a continually rotating selection of sushi, the upper, after a quick flick through the iPad above every seat, delivers your personal choice straight to your seat.

I think this was 'crab innards'. Delicious.

When you disposed your plates in the lower bin (each plate was 100 yen and was counted automatically) you would occasionly get an animation showing a cartoon fight scene or a one armed bandit, and giving you a chance to 'win'. I won! Out from above the conveyor belts came a toy ball with a cheap toy.

What an incentive to keep eating!

Central Tokyo

We then went into central Tokyo.

Skyscrapers everywhere. We went to have a quick look at Rafael Viñoly's Tokyo International Forum. 

A giant architectural vista, without much of a function, the central 'core' of the forum guides you around to the various exhibition halls.

The core also had these grand sweeping pathways, which very much reminded me of the ramps in Le Corbusier's Maison La Roche, but on a whole different scale.

It was certainly a grand architectural statement, but i'm not sure what all this open space was for.

The the imperial gardens provided ground-level views of the city, and a sharp contrast between the heavily built business zones and the carefully manicured gardens and traditional, if grand, buildings.

Ginza

This blog post ends with an evening in Ginza, an opulent district, home to a great number of designer fashion stores, and a lack of affordable coffee.

I'm now 22 years of age! Thanks to all the family for their well -travelled birthday cards! I'll be back next week with more updates.