Courtesy Kengo Kuma & Assoc.

Tokyo is known for its mix of modern and traditional architecture, but for long-term residents it is easy to feel like the concrete is winning out. Old buildings come down on an almost daily basis, inevitably replaced with utilitarian concrete structures that would not look out of place in Stalinist Russia.

The buildings done by acclaimed Tokyo-based architect Kengo Kuma are different. Next month, his new ward office, or city hall, for the Toshima district in Tokyo opens. In Ikebukuro, a Northern Tokyo urban wasteland, the 95 sq. meter, 49-story building stands out, pleasant and green in an otherwise drab area. Its multi-layered exterior, making use of plant life and wood, creates geometric irregularity unseen in most modern architecture with natural materials......Continue Reading

> via qz.com