2019 Architecture Awards

BUILD 2019 Architecture Awards 34 May19213 orking primarily in the cityscape and urban environment, ETHNOS works alongside its clients to create universal architecture that will enhance the built environment. Among the firm’s recent successful projects was its work on HULIC &New SHIBUYA, which was completed in 2017. This project is on display at the Center-gai, located at the intersection of Inokashira street and the Yumeji street. The surroundings bristle with commercial buildings holding signboards. For this project the firm’s proposal was to visualize every floor as a volume in which, through its full glazing façade, pedestrians can perceive the inner-life from the street. In this way, they recognize the building not from the signage but from the volume of the building. The firm was able to encourage by maximizing the rental spaces through commanding the sky factor. The external shaft equipment allows for 100% rentable floor area ratio to preserve economic efficiency, and ETHNOS also developed a sash less, insulated glazing, fire preventing steel curtain wall on the surface to mimic the appearance of the glass in each floor as layers. This project is a true work of art and illustrates the firm’s commitment to innovation and excellence in design. ETHNOS: Best High-Rise Architectural Design Firm - Japan Based in the heart of Tokyo, Japan, ETHNOS is an architectural design firm specialising in creating stunning high-rise creations for a variety of development clients. To celebrate the firm’s win in this year’s Architecture Awards we profile the company and share details of some of its latest successful projects. W Among the firm’s other completed projects is ESCALIER GOBANCHO, an exciting rental office and commercial spaces project, facing the moat of the Imperial Palace and located close to Ichigaya station. The south side of the site is on a street and the north side of the site faces the moat. To take advantage of this location, ETHNOS laid out the elevator core aside from the main access from north to south. By commanding the sky factor, the volume of each level is offset from back to front, so that the pedestrians recognize each rental space as an individual component. Then the gap between each volume turns a balcony with greenery as a space that intermediates each office and the entire city. Seeking to take advantage of the project’s stunning location, ETHNOS’ proposal was to connect the balcony by the stairs with the ground level to encourage communication between the upper and lower levels, thus a relationship and connection will be generated to the entire city. Looking ahead, the future looks bright for ETHNOS, and the firm is keen to undertake even more exciting projects over the years to come. Company: ETHNOS Name: Tatehito Sakurai Address: Omiya 1-14-7-N, 204 Suginami-Ku, Tokyo, Japan Telephone: +81-3-6383-1940 Web Address: http://ethnos.jp