Designed to mimic a verdant hill, Heatherwick Studio?s landscaped pergola building will bring greenery and dynamic shapes to the new Toranomon-Azabudai district in central Tokyo. Situated alongside three planned skyscrapers by Pelli Clark Pelli Architects, including one that?s set to be Japan?s tallest at 330 meters (1082 feet), the building is part of a site that will contain shops, offices, residential spaces, a museum and gallery, and a 64,000-square-foot public square.

“Our design for the project responds to the layering of Tokyo; the juxtapositions of scale and the character of buildings that draw the eye upwards,? says Neil Hubbard, group leader at Heatherwick Studio.

?Set within a natural valley, we have chosen to accentuate that topography through our design, creating an undulating arrangement that uses a pergola-like structural system to create a variety of landscaped spaces, from hidden gardens to sunken courtyards. Weaving and flowing through the scheme, a family of pavilions emerges from the grid of the pergola. Rather than focus on one single impression, we hope to encourage exploration by creating hundreds of moments to be revealed and discovered.?
Led by architect Thomas Heatherwick, London-based Heatherwick Studio is no stranger to working living vegetation into its designs. In this case, the ?planted pergola? makes brilliant use of an irregularly shaped plot, with an undulating roof that stretches down to reach the ground and planted...