玉川髙島屋S・C南館アトリウムガーデン　リニューアル Tamagawa Takashimaya S.C. South Building Atrium Garden Renewal

This project is the façade renewal of the Tamagawa Takashimaya S・C South Building, housing a department store located in front of Futako-Tamagawa Station.
The aim is to rebuild the building’s relationship with the city and turn it into a new landmark for the area.

The façade, prior to our renovation,  was created in the 2003 expansion of the department store.  It consisted of a semi-outdoor atrium garden covered by simple aluminum louvers. As large-scale developments across the street made Futako-Tamagawa more lively and connected to the train station.  The South Building with its louver façade needed more of an inviting presence facing the station.

Our proposal, therefore, aimed to create a series of open terraces that attract pedestrians to cross a large street to the Futagotamagawa Takashimata department store.  We began by removing existing louvers, designed large cube-shaped frames—3, 4, and 6 meters in size—equipped with LED screens are suspended as if floating in space. The façade becomes a deep, layered surface, like an aquarium of air, where people move around and the energy of the city appears in three dimensions.

The LED cubes do more than show information. Their contents change with the time of day and season, so that the building itself responds to the city and becomes a dynamic medium of communication.

Steel-framed cubes are also placed around the staircase landings inside the atrium. These act as viewing spots or small stages, giving people new ways to look at the city and creating a sense of theater in the urban space, where people both watch and are watched.

The cubes invite people to walk around them, pass through them, and interact with them. This increases movement and activity in the space, while the three-dimensional structure also provides a flexible setting for events such as fashion shows, markets, and seasonal festivals.

This project goes beyond a simple façade renewal. It turns the building surface from a fixed “plane” into a dynamic “field,” creating stronger links with the city and opening the architecture to many kinds of activities.