This project is the development of a new tenant building commissioned by a private owner. Located along Meiji-dori Avenue, which connects Shibuya, Harajuku, and Omotesando, the site sits at the heart of a dynamic urban context where diverse people, goods, and activities intersect. Yet behind the main street lies a quiet residential neighborhood, creating a layered environment where commercial vitality and everyday life coexist.
The owner sought an architectural landmark that would embody the unique character of this location while providing a flexible and sustainable environment for tenants. Through a series of discussions with the client, four key principles were identified as the foundation of the project: sense of place, flexibility, commercial viability, and delivering value for tenants.
The lower two floors facing Meiji-dori are designed as independent retail spaces, while generous floor-to-floor heights create a sense of openness beyond the actual floor area. A digital signage system integrated into the facade transforms the building into an interface between the city and its surroundings, enhancing visibility and creating new opportunities for communication and commercial value.
As the site is adjacent to a residential area to the northwest, the design process began with an analysis of the allowable building volume under daylight regulations. This led to the introduction of a recessed “void” between 12 and 20 meters above ground level, reducing the impact on neighboring residences while creating a new type of urban space within the building.
Rather than treating this void as a limitation, the project reinterprets it as an opportunity to generate new value. The intermediate zone accommodates flexible tenant configurations through smaller, adaptable units, while the recessed volume creates a three-sided balcony that provides a unique environmental quality specific to this level. Positioned at the southwest corner above this zone, the digital signage communicates toward both Shibuya and the Harajuku–Omotesando area, expressing the energy and activity of the city.
The upper levels are designed as three-sided open spaces to maximize views across central Tokyo, culminating in a rooftop terrace that responds to the surrounding urban culture. To achieve these open and flexible spaces while maximizing tenant volume, the structural system was developed in collaboration with structural engineers, to minimize column dimensions and create a framework that opens the building toward the city.
The completed building is composed of a series of layered environments: an open lower level connected to the street, an adaptable intermediate zone, a space where urban communication and tranquility coexist, and upper levels that embrace panoramic views.
Shibuya Harajuku XROSS is conceived as an “urban section” that reinterprets the diverse identities and activities of the city through architecture. Rather than becoming a landmark defined by symbolic form alone, it aims to serve as a lasting architectural framework that embraces and supports the evolving life of the city.
