立体的な庭園で包まれた〈麻布台ヒルズ〉低層部

© Raquel DIniz

2023年11月24日に、森ビルが虎ノ門・麻布台で手がける新しい街〈麻布台ヒルズ（Azabudai Hills）〉がオープンしました。その内のガーデンプラザ（C街区低層部）を、リード・アーキテクトとしてトーマス・ヘザーウィック（Thomas Heatherwick）率いるヘザウィック・スタジオ（Heatherwick Studio）が設計しています。

複合施設と立体的なランドスケープを組み合わせることで、観光客や地域住民が散策しながら互いにつながり、緑あふれるオープンな公共空間を楽しめる場所をつくり出しています。

ヘザウィック・スタジオが手掛ける「ソリューションとしての建築」 世界各地で手掛ける建築8選＋もうすぐ竣工する日本でのプロジェクト

（以下、Heatherwick Studioから提供されたプレスキットのテキストの抄訳）

© Raquel DIniz

© Kenji Masunaga

2023年11月24日、東京都心にヘザウィック・スタジオが設計した新たな街が開業した。

〈麻布台ヒルズ〉として知られるこのプロジェクトは、日本を代表する都市景観デベロッパーである森ビルが30年にわたり進めてきた再生プロセスの集大成である。ヘザウィック・スタジオは基壇部の建築と公共空間におけるリード・アーキテクトとして参加した。

© Raquel DIniz

© Raquel DIniz

立体的なランドスケープにより、さまざまな利用者が探索しながらつながる街

この新たな街は、住宅、店舗、学校、2つの寺院、アートギャラリー、オフィス、レストランで構成されており、そのすべてが2.4km²の一般公開された緑豊かな景観の中に設けられている。

このデザインは、通勤客と住民、市民が互いに目的をもってつながることを促すものであり、8.1ヘクタールの敷地内には、木々や花々、水辺のある公共空間が設けられている。曲がりくねった散策路や歩きやすい屋上斜面は、人々を探索や気軽な集まりへと誘う。

© Raquel DIniz

ヘザウィック・スタジオの創設者であるトーマス・ヘザウィックは次のように語る。

「私たちは、人々の感情を今までとは異なる形で結びつける街をつくりたいと考えた。文化的・社会的な施設と立体的・探索的なランドスケープを組み合わせることで、観光客や地域住民に、互いにつながり、緑あふれるオープンな公共空間を楽しめる場所を提供することができた。これは、東京にとって楽しくユニークな公共の場であり、長年にわたって愛されるように設計を行った。」

© Raquel DIniz

さまざまなスケールや用途が混在する、東京らしさを表現する場所

東京には、新旧、大小さまざまな建築物が並存しひしめきあっている。〈麻布台ヒルズ〉のデザインは、この豊かな混在と、東京という都市の多様性と激しさを称えている。

広々とした公共庭園、中央広場、イベントスペース「ザ・クラウド（The Cloud）」を含む新たなランドスケープによって、居住者と訪問者がともに集い、インスピレーションを得ることができる。

© Kenji Masunaga

〈麻布台ヒルズ〉は現在、東京で最も緑豊かな都市部の1つであり、景観が自然と人間を同時にサポートするガーデンシティの創造という、森ビルのコミットメントを引き継いでいる。

森ビル株式会社は、30年にわたるこの土地の再生を通じて、300を超える住民や企業と協力し、この街に活気をもたらした。現在では、元々入居していたテナントや企業の90％以上が、新しい街に戻ることを選んでいる。

© Raquel DIniz

また、〈麻布台ヒルズ〉は、「WELL認証」の予備認証（プロジェクトの完成前に計画内容に基づいて取得が可能な認証）や、複合用途開発における最高レベルの認証である「LEED ND（Neighborhood Development / 近隣開発）認証」、「LEED BD+C（Building Design/Core and Shell Development）認証」を取得した世界最大級の施設となる予定である。

© Raquel DIniz

新たな街とともに設計された、都心部最大のインターナショナルスクール

この開発の一環として、ヘザウィック・スタジオにとって初となる学校、〈ブリティッシュ・スクール・イン・東京（The British School in Tokyo）〉を設計した。15,000m²のこの学校は、東京の都心部で最大のインターナショナルスクールである。

地域の気候を最大限に活かしたデザインとなっており、8つの階層に広がる屋外の学習・レクリエーションスペースはシームレスにつながり、生徒だけでなく教師も楽しく仕事ができるよう設計されている。

© Raquel DIniz

ヘザウィック・スタジオのパートナー兼グループリーダー、ニール・ハバード（Neil Hubbard）は次のように語る。

「10年以上にわたり、私たちは何が東京らしさなのか、その本質に迫るとともに、東京の近代的な建築環境に新鮮でやわらかな新しさを加えることを試みてきた。私たちは、バラエティに富み、好奇心をそそる、探索したくなるような空間をつくりたかったのである。私は、さまざまな家族がこの場所に集結し、探索する光景を見るのが待ちきれない。」

この新たな公共地区には、毎年2,500万から3,000万の人々が訪れると推定されている。

© Kenji Masunaga

© Raquel DIniz

© Kenji Masunaga

空間デザインプラットフォーム「TECTURE」

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以下、Heatherwick Studioのリリース（英文）です。

Azabudai Hills
Designed by Heatherwick Studio

Project Facts

Project Name: Azabudai Hills
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Client: Mori Building Company
Completion Date: November 2023
Size: 8.1ha
Design Director: Thomas Heatherwick
Group Leader: Neil Hubbard
Project Leader: Michael Lewis
Project Manager: Elisa Simonetti
Technical Design Lead: Andy McConachie
Project Team: Adam Peacock, Adriana Cabello, Ana Diez Lopez, Alberto Dominguez, Andy McConachie, Artur Zakrzewski, Aurelie de Boissieu, Ayumi Konishi, Charlotte McCarthy, Chi Chung, Dimitrije Miletić, Elli Liverakou, Etain Ho, Etienne de Vadder, Gabriel Belli Butler, Ho-ping Hsia, Ian Atkins, Iván Linares Quero, Jacob Neal, Jorge Xavier Mendez- Caceres, Jose Marquez, Kacper Chmielewski, Kanru Liu, Kao Onishi, Katerina Joannides, Ken Sheppard, Laura Barr, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Luis Sacristan, Luke Snow, Mat Cash, Megan Burke, Michael Cheung, Nic Bornman, Nicolas Leguina, Nicolas Ombres, Nilufer Kocabas, Ondrej Tichy, Paalan Lakhani, Paul Brooke, Philipp Nedomlel, Ruby Law, Sayaka Namba, Silena Patsalidou, Silvia Rueda, Steven Ascensao, Takashi Tsurumaki, Ville Saarikoski, Wang Fung Chan, Yanny Ren

Collaborators
Executive Architect (Plots A/B2): Nihon Sekkei
Executive Architect (Plot B1): Nikken Sekkei
Executive Architect (Plot C): Yamashita Sekkei
Tower Designer: Pelli Clarke & Partners
Interior Designer (Plot A – Retail): A.N.D Nomura Co., Ltd
Interior Designer (Plot A – Residence): Yabu Pushelberg
Interior Designer (Plot B1 – Residence): Marco Costanzi Architects
Interior Designer (Plot B2 – Residence): SCDA (Soo Chan Architects)
Brief: Winkreative
Lighting Design (Retail Interiors): Light Design Inc.
Lighting Design (Event Space Canopy): L’Observatoire International
Lighting Design (Landscape): Sirius Lighting Office
Retail Entrance Design (Plot A): Sou Fujimoto Architects
General Contractors: Obayashi Corporation (Plot C), Shimizu Corporation (Plots A and B2), Sumitomo Mitsui Construction (Plot B1)

Press Release

A new district in the heart of Tokyo designed by Heatherwick Studio has been opened by the Prime Minister of Japan. The project, known as Azabudai Hills, is the culmination of a thirty-year regeneration process steered by Mori Building Co. Ltd., Japan’s leading urban landscape developer.

The new neighbourhood is made up of residential buildings, retail spaces, a school, two temples, art galleries, offices and restaurants, all set within 2.4km² of green, publicly accessible landscape. Heatherwick Studio is the lead architect of the public realm and the podium level architecture.

The design encourages purposeful connections between commuters, residents and the public, and the 8.1 hectare district is filled with trees, flowers and water features. Meandering routes and walkable rooftop slopes invite exploration and informal gatherings.

Thomas Heatherwick, Founder of Heatherwick Studio, said: “We were inspired to create a district that connects with people’s emotions in a different way. By combining cultural and social facilities with an extraordinary three-dimensional, explorable, landscape, it’s been possible to offer visitors and the local community somewhere to connect with each other and enjoy open green public spaces. This is a joyful and unique public place for Tokyo, designed to be cherished for many years.”

Tokyo is a juxtaposition of old and new architecture, with large and small buildings pressed up against each other. The design celebrates this rich mixture of layers and all the variety and intensity of the city. Residents and visitors can come together and be inspired by a new landscape that includes extensive public gardens, a central square and The Cloud event space. It is now one of Tokyo’s greenest urban areas and continues Mori Building Company’s commitment to creating garden cities where the landscape simultaneously supports nature and people.

Throughout the thirty-year regeneration of this site, Mori Building Co. collaborated with over 300 residents and businesses to bring the district to life. Over 90% of the original tenants and businesses have now chosen to return to the new district.

Azabudai Hills is also on track to become one of the world’s largest sites to receive the preliminary WELL certification, the highest-level LEED Neighbourhood Development certification for mixed use developments, and LEED’s BD+C (Building Design/Core and Shell Development) certification.

As part of the development, Heatherwick Studio has designed its first school, The British School of Tokyo. At 15,000 sqm, this is the largest international school in the heart of the city. The design takes full advantage of the local climate with a seamless flow of outdoor learning and recreational spaces spread across eight levels, where students and teachers can enjoy working.

Neil Hubbard, Partner and Group Leader at Heatherwick Studio said: “Over the last 10 years, we have tried to get under the skin of what makes something distinctively Tokyo, whilst at the same time adding something new that’s fresh and soft to its modern built environment. We wanted to create vistas full of variety and intrigue and spaces to explore. It’s a confluence of different families of design all brought together in one place. I can’t wait to watch people explore it.”

An estimated twenty-five to thirty million people will visit this new public district every year.

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo, Japan
By Sarah Simpkin

First published: a+u Japan issue 630, March 2023

Making a human district in a global city

 There’s a snapshot of an alley in Tokyo, taken two decades ago. It’s unremarkable. It could be a scene from any number of residential neighbourhoods, with its familiar tangle of cables, autumn branches, telephone poles and washing strung across first-floor balconies. On the ground, a vending machine and pot plants on a flight of stairs. Looking up, a distant skyscraper and handful of taller buildings against blue sky. What you can see needs some care. You notice the wall is overtaken by weeds, there are barriers around a garage and a rusting fence. What you can’t see is the meaning this place holds for the people that lived there, the invisible threads that drew its community together. The story of Azabudai Hills begins with a neighbourhood in similar need of renewal, but one that is being stitched together from these threads of memory. It is a new kind of district in the city, made for people and filled with greenery – “a place,” says Thomas Heatherwick “to be cherished.”

Two generations in the making

The completion of Azabudai Hills doesn’t just mark the culmination of a decade of work by Heatherwick Studio, who designed the landscape and many of its buildings. In 1989, the developer, Mori Building Company, began a remarkable process of regeneration that has been underway for more than thirty years. To transform more than eight hectares of land in the heart of Tokyo, Mori Building negotiated and cooperated with the owners of each business, house and plot on the site, one by one.

As a result of this gradual, community-focused approach to development, Heatherwick Studio’s client is a consortium of Mori Building and local residents and businesses. “This is a very different model tosimilarly-scaled regeneration projects in the UK, which often become unaffordable for the existing residents,” explains Neil Hubbard, Group Leader at Heatherwick Studio. “In this project, the ambition has been to engage with and retain the communities that call the area home. It’s a development that has spanned generations. In many cases, parents or even grandparents signed up to the move to give their families a better place to live.”

“There were more than two hundred structures on the site, among them many post-war buildings that had seen better days. But they had all the everyday spaces that, together, make up city life. There was a temple, for example, a dry cleaner, florist, print shop, memorials, a post office and park – all of which needed to be relocated in the new district, in buildings designed to last.”

Azabudai Hills straddles the neighbourhoods of Azabudai and Toranomon in Minato ward. This is an international part of Tokyo, home to a number of embassies, and sits in a natural valley between the hills of Roppongi, a cultural area to the west, and the business centre of Toranomon to the north. The site is Y-shaped, split into three irregular sections and just 30 metres wide at its narrowest point. When Heatherwick Studio was commissioned to design the landscape and the assortment of lower-level retail, office, cultural and community buildings, the location of three towers was already envisaged within the masterplan. Its three segments needed to be brought together, but also given their own character and distinct gateways: a retail presence along the eastern edge of Sakurada-dori, a business district to the south and a residential neighbourhood to the west. The client also wanted a completely umbrella-free route for office workers, stretching 700 metres between the two metro stations at either end of the site.

Heatherwick Studio 公式サイト

https://www.heatherwick.com