Standing with its platform parallel to the road, Yoyogi station is a hidden building with few parts exposed to the city. At the west exit, the building facade that faces the intersection is in line with other buildings. Passing through this exit, the stairs divide to cross the Central line, Sobu line and the Yamanote line, and reach the small east entrance. The station has unique characteristics such as the staircase rising towards the platform, or the west exit orientation that is adjusted to the city blocks. Distinctive steps were taken to coordinate the various cir- cumstances in the station building.
Yoyogi flourished due to young people as various academic facilities of preparatory and animation schools were established in this area. However, as Japan is facing a declining birth- rate, the state of the city is starting to change. In the future, the ticket gates may change into gateless or touchless which then create a wider space inside the station. In these circumstan- ces, what would the station look like if the station planned to provide an incubation office for creative individuals who dreamt of entrepreneurship and startups?
An atrium was created by removing the wall on the first floor of the West exit station building and the floor of the second-floor courtyard. The third floor was raised and the boundary with the platform was removed. This way, the existing platform, 2nd and 3rd floor became steps that shifted half a floor. As these various steps of courtyards, floors, and platform with new stairs connect, variations of visual permeability within the station building are created. Resi- dents will work mainly in the spaces on the 2nd and 3rd floors. With this new station, they will be able to freely publicize themselves to the station users and be able to interact with each other.
The Yamanote Line Lab is a project to study the future of the railway station in the urban space of Tokyo, with Tokyo Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and East Japan Railway Company as members. The lab activities were promoted by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto Laboratory in School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology. To clarify the perspective to explore the significance of architectural design in the future context, the Lab invited Prof. Sheila Kennedy from MIT by “Invitational Program for Faculty from the World’s Top-Level Universities”, who practices architectural project that combines advanced materials and sustainable design towards social issues. With Yamanote Line as the subject of study, the Lab agreed into a joint research contract with JR East, which owns and operates the Yamanote Line. To enhance the feasibility of study results, the projects included researcher from JR East and assumption of the future society explored by JR East became the premise of the study. The study was conducted through the architectural course named “Architectural Detail” in Tokyo Institute of Technology. The potential of a station in Tokyo has been considered from a global perspective by 38 participants including international students from around the world.
THE LAB PROCESS
The architectural course took place in June-July 2018. First, 12 stations on the northwest side of the Yamanote Line, which run through the topography, were selected as subjects. These are the stations that managed to avoid large scale of repeated urban development, which made the historical, geographical, and social background of the station building transmitted until today. By creating these station as study cases, the lab tried to position the architectural design between the characteristic of the place and the future society. Studio participants are divided into 12 teams of 3-4 people based on their own desires. First the participants investigated the “Background“ such as historical, geographical and social aspects to find the characteristic of each station. Next, they study the match between the characteristic they found with future visions that JR East stated as “Agenda”. In the mid-term review, together with guest lecturers and JR East employees, the significance of the architectural design created by these match was discussed. In response to the discussion result, each team extracted the parts where the significance appeared intensively in the existing station building and worked on architectural design as an experimental intervention. At the final review, we invited JR East executive officers along with the guest lecturers to critique and evaluate the social significance of the intervention and the possibility as an architectural design. The results of the study that dveloped by voluntary members after the course were exhibited, co-sponsored by JR East and Tokyo Institute of Technology from December 2018 to the following February 2019 with the cooperation of the Railway Museum.
Harajuku is a city that attracts many tourists as a place of fashion and pop culture. It is also a city developed on a valley where the branch of Shibuya river flowed. Harajuku station is built on gentle slopes between Omotesando and Takeshita-dori that makes Omotesando exit is on higher ground and the Takeshita exit is on lower ground of the platform. The Yamanote line, which passes through the natural topography, has been made to cross several rivers. The river at the bottom of Harajuku Station, flows from Kiyomasa no Ido, a spring inside the Meiji Shrine, and passes along Takeshita street. However, today it is a culvert bordering the Yamanote line. Along with urbanization, the rivers in towns have been the subject to flood control by engineering technology. While it makes life safer, in the same time it insulates people from the natural changes that take place.Question arise on how the station will look like when taking the future of station as a land- mark and bring up the local potential for tourism together with uniqueness of Harajuku’s to- pography and rivers. The width of Takeshita exit tunnel was expanded with a sloped masonry wall and connected to the Meiji Shrine. Slits were made on the sides of the platform to let natural light into the space. Raise the river that had been covered. The small river catches the rain water from the platform roof. The murmur of the flowing river and the changes of water level will tell people about the natural topology of Shibuya station.
