London firm of architects wins contract to redevelop new city district in Tokyo

A London-headquartered firm of architects has won a major contract to redevelop a new district in Tokyo, Japan.

PLP Architecture is the master designer and placemaking strategist for The Tokyo Cross Park development, the largest regeneration development in the metropolitan area of Tokyo, with a total floor area of 1.1 million square metres.

The site connects to the 16-hectare Hibiya public park and will include four towers, a 31-metre-tall podium with an elevated green public realm, and a 2-hectare public plaza. The firm will also act as the architect for two of the four mixed-use towers.

The district will be supported by advanced digital infrastructure, including digital twins, which will enable it to become a cross-disciplinary third- generation smart city. This technology will be used to enhance the experience of people in the district, helping services provide increasing value by naturally and constantly evolving to suit the needs of individual users.

The Tokyo Cross Park will become a flagship for sustainable development in the country and will showcase the possibility of reaching the government’s target of carbon neutrality by 2050. The project aims to achieve zero CO2 emissions with a centralised masterplan-wide energy strategy at the time of completion.

Adding to this, by introducing new environmental technologies such as carbon absorbing technology, the masterplan aims to be carbon negative in the future.

To build resiliency for the future, the site also has built in disaster prevention systems, such as a disaster-resistant energy system and protocols for establishing temporary accommodation for those unable to immediately return home.

PLP established a permanent base in Japan in 2017. Their Tokyo studio serves a wide range of clients, and is currently working on eight projects in Japan. Based on a projection of the future city, they develop site-specific strategies, research, and project positioning and we implement those strategies in buildings and the public realm.

They have repositioned and designed city districts and their buildings, developed workplace strategies for international Japanese corporations and carried out placemaking consulting and design for key cultural developments.

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