Official
A little worried building @ Kojunsha Street
DENTSU Head Office Building (completed: 1933), which was previously mentioned in the blog post “DENTSU Head Office Building Third Generation (January 2021)”. DENTSU Head Office Building (completed in 1967) in Tsukiji is under demolition work, but the predecessors standing at the corner of Sotobori-dori St. and Kojunsha Street are still alive. This time, I would like to introduce a building with a slightly worrisome design along Kojunsha Street, turning around the corner of this functional American-style building.
※From the left of the photo, the DENTSU Ginza Building (the predecessor's DENTSU Head Office Building), Louis Vuitton Ginza Namiki-dori St. Store, Kojun Building, Maruka Building.
Louis Vuitton Ginza Namiki-dori St.
The Louis Vuitton Ginza Namiki-dori St. store, which was reopened in March 2021, has an impressive exterior wall of wavy glass. The curve of the outer wall, which changes color due to the viewing angle and the adjustment of light, seems to be a fluctuation of the water surface, and the entire building expresses the "water pillar". Designed by Atsushi Aoki, who designs many Louis Vuitton store building.
The exterior of the Louis Vuitton Ginza Matsuya store (renewed in 2013) was also designed by Atsushi Aoki, and the Ichimatsu pattern called "Damier" of Louis Vuitton is expressed in an Art Deco style.
Kojun Building
The road nicknamed Kojunsha Street is derived from Yukichi Fukuzawa's founding of Kojunsha, Japan's first membership social club, in 1880 along this street. Since the former Kojun Building was Historic buildings built in 1929 after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1929, when rebuilding to the current building in 2004, a method called facade preservation (preserving the front and part of the front of the building) was adopted.
Facade preservation is a method that is often seen in recent redevelopment, and in Chuo-ku, it has been adopted in Nihonbashi Diamond Building (completed: 2014).
Maru Masaru Building
Maruka Building is located opposite the Kojun Building. At the time of its completion in 1929, it was a building of Maruka Shoten, a long-established bag dealer. It was designed by Matsunosuke Moriyama, an architect who was active in Taiwan during the Japanese rule. It was renovated as a Piaget store in 1999, and in 2017 it was renewed as a concept store in Bombo One. While leaving original designs such as Art Deco-style terracotta decoration (decoration using pottery), the small size also helps to give a light and stylish impression.
The Yoney Building (completed: 1930) on Ginza 2-chome was also designed by Matsunosuke Moriyama, and it has a more dignified appearance than Maruka Building.