Office buildings in Marunouchi, Tokyo

[nodrog]

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I'm somewhat fascinated by this kind of nondescript, modern office building. Tokyo is full of them.

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[AndreasG]

Nice series!

[stuny]

I agree with Andreas.

[war]

Nice series, I agree with AndreasG and stuny........

However, I would disagree that they are all nondescript. Each is desperately trying to be unique to vie for our attention, but all of them are the results of the same universal program. That is to enclose as much rentable office space on the least area of real estate at the lowest possible cost.   Sadly the repetition of these same forms and materials can be found virtually everywhere in the world these days and is changing the individuality of each of our cities that they once possessed.  While some admittedly are banal and unimaginative, others are quite successful and even spectacular architecturally.

Thanks for posting these,  they are well photographed  and there's a lot to be learned from them.

[masjah]

43 minutes ago, war said:

Nice series, I agree with AndreasG and stuny........

However, I would disagree that they are all nondescript. Each is desperately trying to be unique to vie for our attention, but all of them are the results of the same universal program. That is to enclose as much rentable office space on the least area of real estate at the lowest possible cost.   Sadly the repetition of these same forms and materials can be found virtually everywhere in the world these days and is changing the individuality of each of our cities that they once possessed.  While some admittedly are banal and unimaginative, others are quite successful and even spectacular architecturally.

Thanks for posting these,  they are well photographed  and there's a lot to be learned from them.

I entirely agree - it's an overwhelming constraint, and it is very difficult to inject a degree of individuality. The worst examples are often seen when an architect is commissioned to "remodel" an existing building, and, looking at some, on a minimal budget at that.  Marilyn and I did an architectural walking tour of Chicago, which we much enjoyed, but some of the least successful were those "remodelled" with functionally superfluous, cosmetic add-ons.

To my mind, and to the contrary, one of the most successful was the unashamedly minimalist modernist Mies van der Rohe Seagram Building, which I loved. (Just my opinion though!)

 

 

[AndreasG]

High rising office buildings are relatively new in Tokyo due to the permanent risk of strong earthquakes. The first one was the Kasumigaseki Building around 1960, if I am right, followed by the Mitsui and Sumitomo Buildings in Shinjuku and the faceless Sunshine City Tower  in Ikebukuro.  The ones shown above in the Marunouchi area are all more or less new, built in the past 10 years or so, with a little more "decoration" or structured facades and recesses compared with older Tokyo buildings, but still basically ruled by earthquake safety.  Nevertheless, the are containers for offices and people, much more people than we put into an office outside of Japan - space is extremely expensive there!

I like the buildings in the photos of @nodrog, apart from the offices they offer plenty of shopping and restaurants and they are usually well connected on the B1/B2 level to the next buildings and subway/underground stations. One can cross half of Tokyo on foot without seeing daylight. Probably in color such buildings with their blue glassing and refelections might appear a little more pleasant but I remember from other posts that @nodrog prefers his monochrome Leica.

[war]

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7 hours ago, masjah said:

I entirely agree - it's an overwhelming constraint, and it is very difficult to inject a degree of individuality. The worst examples are often seen when an architect is commissioned to "remodel" an existing building, and, looking at some, on a minimal budget at that.  Marilyn and I did an architectural walking tour of Chicago, which we much enjoyed, but some of the least successful were those "remodelled" with functionally superfluous, cosmetic add-ons.

To my mind, and to the contrary, one of the most successful was the unashamedly minimalist modernist Mies van der Rohe Seagram Building, which I loved. (Just my opinion though!)

 

 

Mies van der Rohe's  Seagram is in New York.  I believe you may have been looking at what was originally his70's Iandmarked IBM Plaza office building. It was recently converted to a hotel ( Langham).  The Chicago architect Dirk Lohan designed the hotel lobby in the spirit of his grandfather's "Less is More" philosophy.  Come back soon! 

[masjah]

3 hours ago, war said:

Mies van der Rohe's  Seagram is in New York.  I believe you may have been looking at what was originally his70's Iandmarked IBM Plaza office building. It was recently converted to a hotel ( Langham).  The Chicago architect Dirk Lohan designed the hotel lobby in the spirit of his grandfather's "Less is More" philosophy.  Come back soon! 

You're absolutely right! I was confusing an "on foot" tour in New York with a boat based arcihtectural tour in Chicago. (It was though definitely the Seagram building I was thinking of). Would love to return to Chicago some day (if I can afford the holiday travel medical insurance that is).