'ginza sony park' is a vibrant public hub at the heart of tokyo

the ‘ginza sony park’ project is the ongoing development on the site of tokyo’s sony building, which was demolished in 2017. the project has three stated aims: to serve as a hub to promote the brand; to offer people new interactive experiences; and to make the ginza district more comfortable and inviting for citizens and visitors alike. the idea of providing a public space has been present since the sony building opened in 1966. known as the ‘garden of ginza’, ‘sony square’ was a public space that faced the adjacent intersection. designed by nobuo araki, ‘ginza sony park’ is a contemporary reinterpretation of this concept.

all images © ginza sony park project

at ground level, ‘ginza sony park’ has been conceived as a ‘vertically themed, three-dimensional’ space that measures roughly 700 square meters (7,610 sqf). this setting offers a variety of interactive events, experiences, and other programs at the heart of the city. meanwhile, below ground, four subterranean levels provide expansive areas for retail and recreation. with the ‘park’ and ‘lower park’ now complete, the site will remain open in this state until the end of september 2021. after that, sony will begin work on the final part of the project: the ‘upper park’.

‘the intent of the project was not to merely build a brand new building, but to construct a diverse and objective place that lives with the society,’ explains architect nobuo araki. ‘we recognized that the original sony building had naturally become a junction for people to meet, so we preserved the street level and lower levels that connect to the subways and underground pedestrian routes, while drastically downsizing the upper levels. this meant that we viewed the building as a site rather than an architectural building.’

‘in an attempt to preserve the building’s rich history, we designed the interior of the four basement floors as if their surfaces had been cut away, allowing us to reveal various finishes from past renovations,’ nobuo araki continues. ‘this method was selected not only to reduce construction time and cost, but to also make the most out of the architecture with minimal additions. we also prepared demolition instructions for the team and construction crew in order to efficiently ‘design’ the demolition process.’

project info:

name: ginza sony park
location: tokyo, japan
total floor area: 3,807.55 sqm
scale: 4 basement floors and 1 floor above ground
client: sony
architect: nobuo araki