Architecture...

Ginza Chanel - Tokyo, Japan

Amazing creation by New York-based Pater Marino + Associated Architects for Chanel to use as their flagship store.

It's a six-layer, integrated curtain-wall system fitted onto a reinforced concrete core. Basically that means that its a normal concrete building wrapped with this sheet that displays images using its massive LED system.

They wanted to create a chameleon like structure that could be whatever it wanted to be.

“Functioning as a 21st-century branding billboard, the building is a conceptual rendering of a classic Chanel tweed,” says principal architect Peter Marino. The design team’s primary objective was to create a contemporary, iconic architectural expression of the Chanel ethos.

At 215 feet, the building is the tallest in the upscale Ginza shopping district. The 10-story building comprises a three-level Chanel retail boutique, a fourth-floor exhibition and concert space, rental offices on the upper floors, a gourmet restaurant on the penthouse level, and a multifunction rooftop garden terrace.

Working with fabricators in Germany, Japan, and California, Marino’s team set out to create an ambitious melding of lighting and infrastructure. With lighting elements combined with steel mesh and sandwiched between layers of glass, the Chanel tower advances the architectural integration of LED technology into a curtain wall. “The lighting is not applied but instead is a key component of the facade itself,” says Marino project associate in charge Darren Nolan.