NISHI-SHINJUKU’S SPATIAL CONFIGURATION
Shinjuku’s early development as a post town around the turn of the 18th century occured along the Kōshū Kaidō—a route that extended from Nihonbashi in Tokyo to Shimosuwa-shuku in Nagano Prefecture. The built environment was characterized by low-rise wooden structures, primarily inns, abutting the main road. Until 1963, when building heights in Tokyo were no longer limited to 31 meters, skyscrapers like the ones found in contemporary Nishi-Shinjuku were non-existent.2 Beginning in 1968, reclamation of land from the Yodobashi Water Purification Plant created a tabula rasa within Nishi-Shinjuku that allowed for centralized planning and the construction of skyscrapers. A building incentive scheme operating in the planned area (56 hectares) provided for more vertical floor area with the creation of publicly accessible space or plazas within the site.3 The Mitsui and Sumitomo buildings are products of this scheme, although the use of their public space is radically different. Mitsui’s plaza has outdoor seating and is programmed with restaurants that are activated by an influx of patrons during lunchtime (fig. 6), while
2
In Japan, the 1919 Urban Building Law limited building height to 31 meters, which allowed for low and mid-rise buildings. In 1963, revisions to the Building Standard Law (1950) eliminated the 31 meter height requirement. 3
“Urban Development in Tokyo,” Asian Human Network Databank, accessed May 29, 2014, http://www.asianhumannet.org/ db/datas/9_transport/udt_reference2_en.pdf.
FIG. 3
Yodobashi Water Purification Plant. Source: Centenary of Modern City Planning and Its Perspective City (Tokyo: City Planning Institute of Japan, 1988).
FIG. 4
Construction of Nishi-Shinjuku subcenter and Keio Plaza Hotel on land formerly used by the Yodobashi Water Purification Plant, July 23, 1970. Source: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 2007-2014.
UNDERUTILIZED OVERBUILT
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