a+u 2024:12 NIKKEN 2000–2024
Content
The December 2024 issue of a+u magazine features the work of Nikken Sekkei. Founded 125 years ago in 1900, the Nikkei Sekkei group is an organizational design firm with about 3,000 employees. Nikken Sekkei’s designers have worked on numerous building and urban design projects in Japan. When pursuing their work, what do they rely on? And what have they inherited from their predecessors? As we edited and prepared this issue for publication, we became increasingly interested in Nikken Sekkei’s floor plans and layout plans. Many of the designers who appear in this issue stressed the importance of floor plans and layout plans as a tool that anyone working hard on a project design can use to explore the needs of society and the client. This attitude toward design may be something that they feel they must pass on from one generation to the next as they grow in influence. Every project profile in this issue includes a 1/750 scale floor and layout plan. The text for each project is based on interviews that not only describe the building but also try to give at least a glimpse into the thinking of the designers. Completed between 2000 and 2024, the projects featured in this issue provide an opportunity to think about the issues and challenges that contemporary architecture and cities face and an opportunity to explore the architecture of the future. (a+u)
Nikken Galaxy
Plans in same scale
Essay: What Kind of Architecture Does the Era Demand?
Hiroshi Naito
Pola Museum of Art
Izumi Garden
Hyogo Performing Arts Center
Kyoto State Guest House
Osaka Bar Association Building
Mokuzai Kaikan
Hoki Museum
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
NBF Osaki Building
TOKYO SKYTREE®
The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto
GranRoof: Tokyo Station Yaesu Development
Toho Gakuen School of Music Chofu Campus
YKK 80 Building
Tokyu Plaza Ginza
CO-OP Kyosai Plaza
Matsuyama University Bunkyo Campus “myu terrace”
Museum Tower Kyobashi / Artizon Museum
Ariake Gymnastic Centre (renamed Ariake GYM-EX)
Waseda University Honjo Senior High School Gymnasium
Miyashita Park
Shinjuku Sumitomo Building Re-Innovation Project
HD Hyundai Global R&D Center
One Za’abeel
Spotify Camp Nou
Essay: Breaking the Bind of Modest Architecture
Naohiko Hino
Dialogue: At Nikken Sekkei, Project Shapes Design
Tomohiko Yamanashi and Hiroaki Otani (Chief Design Officers of Nikken Sekkei)