Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
A hotel and office complex covers a 30,000-square-metre site alongside the River Meguro. The extensive riverside facades of the two buildings are clad in small porcelain tiles of five hues - ranging from grey to light blue - that give the structures an iridescent glow.
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Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
Down to page [NCSA Mosaic users only]
Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
The nineteen-storey office building has continuous bands of tinted glass that reflect the sky and a helicopter pad on the roof adds to the building's high-flying lines. Inside, the walls and ceiling of the 100-metre lobby are panelled in black-and-white book-leafed marble.
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Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
Down to page [NCSA Mosaic users only]
Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
The hotel should only be described only in superlatives - most fabulous, splendid ... It provides the backdrop for many a dreamboat wedding and a total of 24 happy occasions can take place simultaneously. The smaller suites cater for up to fifty guests and the largest for 1000. There is a huge choice of traditional or western-style rooms, a Christian chapel and a Shinto shrine - whatever your religion or preferred setting, it can be catered for, no problem. Super-weddings have become a growth industry over the past decade and sumptuous, eye-popping venues such as this are widely advertised.
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Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
Down to page [NCSA Mosaic users only]
Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
The hotel replaces the former Gajoen, built at the beginning of the century. Familiarly known as 'Ryugu-jo' or 'fairytale dragon palace', it was filled with over 5000 painted reliefs of traditional scenes of women. Half this collection has been restored and relocated in the new building, along with sculptures and other antiques from the original. Many of these are displayed in a ground-floor corridor, nearly 200 metres long, laid out like a museum. Continuous glass walling provides views of a formal garden and a bubbling stream meanders in and out.
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Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
Down to page [NCSA Mosaic users only]
Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
This gallery forms a dramatic approach to the vast central four-storey glass atrium, which houses an entire traditional wooden building (a restaurant) complete with thatched roof and bamboo and rock garden. Barely a mossy-stone's throw away, bridal couples descend a curving Hollywood-style staircase to be captured on the camcorders of their guests below. From here it is but a short step outside for more photo calls on a wooden bridge in front of a magnificent sheet waterfall. All this extravagance is mitigated by the meticulously harmonious detailing, which gives the hotel an impressive air of top-notch quality.
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Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
Down to page [NCSA Mosaic users only]
Nikken Sekkei, Ltd 1991
address . . . . . . . . . 1-8-1 Shimo-meguro, Meguro-ku [1D 22]
contractor. . . . . . . . Kajima Corporation
contract value. . . . . . Yen 80 billion
size. . . . . . . . . . . 134,550 square metres
JR. . . . . . . . . . . . Meguro-Yamanote Line
access. . . . . . . . . . open
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