International annual contest of l’Atelier International de l’Architecture Construite (AIAC)

One wee k long Workshop in Tokyo, organized by Keio Unive rsity  Professors: Pietro Cremonini, Philippe -Charles Dubois, Eric Dubosc

Nihonbashi is a ve ry old district of Tokyo. Thanks to the nihonbshi river, used for people and goods transportation, and to the proximity of the imperial palace, the district was a commercial center. The city oldest bridge underlines the historical role of Nihonbashi. Nevertheless, Nihonbashi today is no longer an urban center. The old bridge and the river today are covered by a highway built for the olympic games in 1964. The Mitsui Company launched an international contest to dynamize the district, and create a promotion center for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games.

URBAN PROJECT

Protection of the traditional urban fabric (made of ve ry small plots) // New subway accesses // Highway turned to a cityscale pedestrian walkway // New wooden deck as a river bank // New buildings on the river bank : a collage of a lot of small buildings.

Instead of one big volume, the new river bank is made of a lego-like assemblage of small blocks, which allows a lot of small empty spaces to appear: private gardens, terraces, paths, staircases. all these «gruyère holes» are a tribute to the Japanese tradition of appropriation of public space.

ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT

The assemblage of small volumes produces a diversity of typologies, and gives eve rybody a nice view while respecting privacy. A rational post-beam Framework structure, but an irrational thus creative, architectural environment.