Project: New Campus Building for 3 colleges in Shinjyuku
Status: Competition 2004
Client: MODE Gakuen
Location: Shinjyuku, Tokyo, Japan
Site: West Shinjyuku, Central Business District; near the Shinjyuku Station
Program: Total 67.200m2; Fashion School (MODE): 9.000m2, Computer & Animation School (HAL): 12.000m2, Medical School (ISEN): 12.000m2, Common Spaces: 10.200m2, Retail: 9.600m2, Parking: 14.400m2
Partner-in-charge: Rem Koolhaas
Associate-in-charge: Shohei Shigematsu
Team: Fernando Donis, Alain Fouraux, Hiromasa Shirai, Michael Smith, Rodney Eggleston, Thomas von Girsewald, Steffi Wedda, Filip Rem
Associate Architect: Kajima Design / Seita Morishima, Taiji Osawa, Hideki Shinoda, Tomomi Sunagane
Structural Engineering Consultant: Arup London / Rory McGowan
Elevator Consultant: Lerch, Bates & Associates / Adrian Godwin
Most buildings are generated through ‘Addition’. All the necessary parts are assembled, adjusted, accumulated in more or less pleasing compositions. Shinjyuku Vertical Campus is generated by ‘Subtraction’; like Michelangelo’s ‘Slaves’.
We have liberated an eloquent, communicative, original ‘form’ from the prismatic volume that is the raw material of all contemporary architecture. Because some of the original volume is still present, our building effortlessly associates itself with its neighbors; because it is the only ‘liberated form’ it will effortlessly attract attention, cause amazement, and inspire awe…
Too many high-rise structures hide or privatize their strongest features in the interior. Because the tower is generated like a sculpture from a block of marble, it always shows an outside and an inside at the same time. We did not want the organization of the 3 schools [ISEN (medical), MODE (fashion) and HAL (computer)] to be too banal, too equal, too predictable. We thought, on the contrary, that the distribution model of each individual school across the floors of this tower (ISEN always takes a pure rectangular form, MODE always takes a free form, HAL always takes a whole floor) could establish and reinforce the individual character of each and provide a single, cohesive identity for the tower.
Media Facade
The media façade integrates lighting and information within the same system. Its intensity and density is defined by potential user distances: towards the East the media façade shows clear information to Shinjuku station. To the North/South the building displays media that can be perceived from medium to long urban distances. The west façade communicates long amplitude messages.
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COMMENTS / 4 COMMENTS
Claudia said on Aug 10 09 at 14:47What’s your point?
lulu said on Aug 14 09 at 07:35Hey! Did you see the new OMA building in Thailand?
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