Recent developments in the Omotesando shopping district could be characterized as a spectacular series of buildings, each of them a box with a magnificent façade and often modest interior. Most of these buildings are flagship stores for major fashion brands. They seem to concentrate on the development of the skin, the façade, and are designed as giant advertisements. They are the architectural equivalent of supermodels. But like supermodels they can also be intimidating because of their beauty.

How can a new building here compete with these developments? How can it make a critical comment on them? And can such a building be more than merely decoration? Why not pick up a where an earlier strand of development left off: the Spiral Building by Maki in 1985 followed bythe YM Square building around the corner form Omotesando, in Harajuku in 2001.

These two routes are connected at every level through the block, by passing or crossing a shop or a series of shops around the inside atrium. This creates an attractive spectacle from outside. It produces a highly iconic and sculptural figure a building that attracts and invites people, not only at the street level, but also towards companies and destinations higher up. It allows equal access to all floors. Combining a public route with a new iconic silhouette in Omotesando Street, it offers spectacular views of the surrounding district. It’s a new destination, and a new way of shopping: a vertical promenade.