Minato Mirai 21

Eight architectural offices around the globe were invited to bring new ideas to twenty storey high office tower, designed to be built in Yokohama city central. The demands of the spaces didn’t allow any development of the spacing typologies; the plan of the building is based on traditions of japanese office buildings.

The new facade design was supposed to improve the atmosphere of the interior and to promote company visibility and positive image in the cityscape. Usually in office towers, excessive sunlight causes huge demand of cooling, which is the biggest and totally unnecessary factor in buildings energy consumption. The design of the project was started by calculating the amount of sunlight on each area of the facades. The conclusion was that areas with most sunlight need most shading and vice versa. This lead to a solution where shaders varying in length create a play of light and shadow on the facade during daytime.

The shaders are constructed of round aluminiumprofi les which ends are closed with LED lights. The facade gets a totally new colourful identity during the nighttime. The solution also reflects the traditional japanese wooden temple architecture with their decorative roof structure painting.