VIBRANT PUBLIC HUB IN THE HEART OF TOKYO

The ‘Ginza Sony Park’ project has three aims: to serve as a hub to promote the brand; to offer people new interactive experiences; and to make the Ginza district more comfortable and inviting for citizens and visitors alike. The idea of providing a public space has been present since the Sony building opened in 1966, the Sony square then known as the ‘Garden of Giza’. The new ‘Ginza Sony Park’, designed by Nobuo Araki, intends to reflect this history with a contemporary reinterpretation of this concept.

At ground level, the ‘Ginza Sony Park’ has been conceived as a ‘vertically themed, three-dimensional’ space that measures roughly 700 square meters (7,610 sqf). This setting offers a variety of interactive events, experiences, and other programs at the heart of the city. Meanwhile, below ground, four subterranean levels provide expansive areas for retail and recreation. With the ‘park’ and ‘lower park’ now complete, the site will remain open in this state until the end of September 2021. After that, Sony will begin work on the final part of the project: the ‘upper park’.

“The intent of the project was not to merely build a brand-new building, but to construct a diverse and objective place that lives with the society,” explains architect Nobuo Araki. “We recognized that the original Sony building had naturally become a junction for people to meet, so we preserved the street level and lower levels that connect to the subways and underground pedestrian routes, while drastically downsizing the upper levels. this meant that we viewed the building as a site rather than an architectural building.

“In an attempt to preserve the building’s rich history, we designed the interior of the four basement floors as if their surfaces had been cut away, allowing us to reveal various finishes from past renovations,” Nobuo Araki continues. “This method was selected not only to reduce construction time and cost, but to also make the most out of the architecture with minimal additions. we also prepared demolition instructions for the team and construction crew in order to efficiently ‘design’ the demolition process.”

Images © ginza sony park project via designboom