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This lacy façade is made from 5,315 aluminium panels, capable of sliding on hidden rails. It's the frontage of Ginza Place, on a corner of Ginza Crossing, Tokyo's equivalent of Times Square. Tokyo-based architects Klein Dytham won a competition to redevelop the 7,350-square-metre former beer hall, now home to Nissan Crossing, in 2012. Its prominent location put the architects under pressure. "We do a lot of buildings, but if we got this wrong we'd have really messed up," co-founder Mark Dytham explains.
The 11-storey building is owned by Sapporo Brewing and the first two floors consist of Nissan showrooms. For the façade, Klein Dytham designed a three-part structure covered in diamond-shaped metal panels. Each sheet was bent in half and welded on one side. Working with Nissan, the architects adapted a glass coating to go over the panels' paint. The challenge was in leaving a gap between the panels no smaller than 12mm to stop them scraping together during earthquakes. The solution? A horizontal rail bolted behind the panels.
Dytham often drives past Nissan Crossing on his way to the Ginza shopping district. "I have to do a second take," he says. "Did I do that?"
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
