“Tokyo Review 035” Shinjuku area-11
Sunken Plazas in “Shinjuku Shin-Toshin” and surrounding redevelopment projects
Shinjuku Mitsui Building, which was completed in 1974, stands on a super-block which all of the four sides face the roads. The roads on the east, north, and west sides are on the ground level, but the road on the south side is about 7 meters lower, facing the “trunk road No.4” leading to the Shinjuku Station West Exit Underground Transportation Hub. Based on that, the project has concentrated open spaces on the south side of the building, known as the “Sunken Plaza” which is even lower than this underground first floor level, skillfully creating a human-scale space with a variety of levels.
I had a chance to see one of the designers of Shinjuku Mitsui Building. He stated that, “This building is located at the first site which will be seen by people who walked from the underground transportation hub approaching the sky scraper blocks, and we made every effort to make this place full of green and sunshine. We went to see a number of sky-scrapers at that time in New York and Chicago, and we had created a plaza underneath the tall building which no other buildings in the world ever had.” Indeed, this sunken plaza provides various viewpoints, at the same time, creates a safe and sound atmosphere surrounded by cozy corner separated from hustle and bustle of the trunk road.
Shinjuku Center Building also provided a sunken plaza at the time of completion, Nomura Building created one by renewal in 2006. In contrast, Shinjuku Sumitomo Building had relatively simple plaza, but they are carrying out a large-scale renovation to build a huge atrium, which will be completed by the end of July. Shinjuku i-land Tower, completed in 1995, also has a sunken plaza.
Shinjuku i-land Tower is not standing in the area of the former reservoir, but in the adjacent block where a number of property holders lived, and it took 20 years from the initiation from the completion applying the urban redevelopment method. There is no doubt that the planning and construction of the skyscraper block has triggered the development of the surrounding urban areas. Still, redevelopment is progressing one after another in surrounding block areas, and regarding the urban redevelopment projects already completed in Shinjuku ward, 8 out of 14 districts are enforced around Shinjuku Shin-Toshin.
