Foster + Partners has revealed plans for a timber-structured department store close to Tokyo’s famous Shibuya Crossing.
The practice claimed the nine-storey shop would adopt ‘the highest standards of sustainability’, echoing the environmental ethos of its client, the Japanese fashion chain Marui.
According to the practice, a proposed wooden structure will be supported by steel to enhance seismic performance.
Meanwhile the building will be powered by renewable energy, partly generated by on-site photovoltaic panels. The designs also feature landscaped bamboo walkways, green walls and a roof garden.
The existing Shibuya Marui store on the site will close on 28 August and then be demolished to make way for the replacement building.
Fosters described its new department store as ‘Japan’s first sustainable full-scale wooden commercial facility that uses wood for about 60 per cent of its structure’.
Senior executive partner David Summerfield said: ‘We are delighted to be working on such a groundbreaking and sustainable project, which is a stone’s throw away from the world-famous Shibuya Crossing.
‘A timber structure will significantly reduce the embodied carbon of the building, while simultaneously creating a warm and open experience for visitors.’
Marui seeks to ‘influence and attract customers who align with their sustainable values’, according to the practice, which said its designs mirrored these values by maximising daylight and passive thermal comfort while using natural materials.
Internally, the proposed building’s open-plan retail units feature timber floors and exposed timber ceilings.
The shop’s western face combines an expressed timber structure with a timber balustrade cladding, under Fosters’ plans. This has been designed to achieve an optimal ratio of glazing on the façade, slashing solar gain.
The offset service core is located towards the east, further reducing overall heat gain, while fluted glazing cladding provides a sense of lightness, according to the practice.
