Less than 1 year after being selected to design Tokyo’s National Stadium for the 2020 Olympics, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has snagged another high-profile gig: designing the New Shinagawa Station in Tokyo.
Shinagawa Station is the 9th busiest train station in the world, just after Tokyo station with over 335K people passing through its platforms a day. In order to relieve congestion, and to position the train station as a gateway for diverse interactions between people, business and cultures, the East Japan Railway Co. has announced plans for what they are calling “Global Gateway Shinagawa.”
Under the wings of Kuma, the new 3-story station will open between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations in the Spring of 2020, just months before the Tokyo Olympics. It’s being built in an old rail yard. However, this will be a provisional opening with a full-fledged opening not scheduled until 2024.
Similar to his plan for Tokyo’s National Stadium, Kuma is going to use plenty of wood throughout the station to give it a natural, modern and Japanese feel. The feature and star characteristic of the station though will undoubtedly be the roof. Planned to be roughly the length of a soccer field, Kuma has imagined a geometric roof that resembles origami, but also takes inspiration from the paneling of Japanese shoji screens. The random folds along the roof will represent the train station’s dynamic diversity.
It sounds like Kuma is going to have his work cut out for him between now and 2020.
from Spoon & Tamago http://ift.tt/2csUmTQ
No comments:
Post a Comment