The headquarters of the Shizuoka newspaper in Shimbashi, Tokyo, is another Kenzo Tange building- he of Fuji Terebi and the Tocho. It resembles nothing so much as a giant mutated baobab tree, vivid rust-colored and sprouting fat boughs that elide in stubby endings, on one side its groping knubs reaching out to latch onto the closest building.
Tange also designed the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Memorial Peace Park, inspired by a Frenchman who chose to call himself ‘the Corbusier’. They were both modernists, which generally meant they used a lot of conrete in great chunks, and went in for funky abstract shapes.
At the top of the SBS there are these 5 decks of observation platforms. From up here the editors can use telescopes to spy on the surrounding high-rises and parks and so gather news in an efficient manner- without the added negtive of going out in the hot sun.
I made that up. It might be true though.
Glory, glory!
FACTFILE
Location – Shimbashi.
Entry – Nope. Nothing to see on the ground floor anyway.
Facts – 1967, Kenzo Tange.
Highlights – Describing it as a baobab tree.
TOKYO
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