|
||
 |
Yokohama
International Passenger Terminal Foreign
Office Architects (Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Farshid Moussavi) 2002 The
port of Yokohama is located on the northwestern edge of Tokyo Bay. Since
the pier’s original construction in 1894, Oshanbashi Pier has
contributed greatly to the development of Yokohama as Japan’s marine
gateway to the world. Because of
its increasing age, reconstruction of the pier’s foundation began in
1988. In 1994 the City of
Yokohama held an international design competition for the reconstruction
of Osanbashi Pier won by the young London architectural firm of Foreign
Office Architects. Hired in
the middle of Japan’s economic slump the architects faced many
difficulties and near cancellation of the project.
Fortunately, the football World Cup was to be held South Korea and
Japan, with the final game to be held in Yokohama.
This became motivation for the construction of the project.
The
new pier fits seamlessly with the new waterfront development that has
transformed the area from dockyards and heavy industry to parks and an
entertainment center. The
‘artificial landscape’ is an orthogonal continuation of Yokohama’s
waterfront and Yamashita Park. The
upper level hovers on the horizon with a continuous surface of grass and
wooden walkways that ‘peel up’ for entry to the ferry terminal, shops,
restaurants, conferences spaces, exhibition spaces and parking below.
A series of ramps and sloped floors create a continuous surface
between levels that extends from exterior to interior and interior to
exterior.
This
fluid, uninterrupted, multidirectional space was conceived by the
architects from a circulation diagram “that aspires to eliminate the
linear structure characteristic of piers and the directionality of the
circulation.” The
interior spaces are expansive and low, a continuation of the exterior
topography that is emphasized through the continuity of materials and
relation to the horizon.
Kari Silloway 2004
|
How to visit From
JR Tokyo station in Tokyo take JR Tokaido line to JR Yokohama station
(25min). From
here change to JR Minato-mirai line to JR Nihon-odori station (6 min). From
exit no. 3 the Ferry Terminal is a 5 minute walk. The
park on the upper level is always open. For
more information please visit www.city.yokohama.jp/me/port All links outside galinsky will open in a new window. Close it when you've finished, or use the Window menu on your browser, to return to galinsky. |
