CHIBA, JAPAN (1989)
Taking advantage of a high-speed rail system which brings distant agricultural areas of Japan within easy com-muting distance of Tokyo, a leading developer acquired property to develop an entirely new suburban town. Ambasz was faced with the challenge of creating a commercial center that feels complete and welcoming even before the remainder of the town is built. The unique multi-tiered vertical garden gives a sense of arrival and enclosure, establishing a visual definition of the city center, yet screening the surrounding agricultural land which will take another ten years to develop. Simultaneously, it establishes a uniform concept for new façades of a town which needs a clear identity from the beginning. This open, ivy-covered structural grid contains a potted plant in each module, creating a natural, transparent transition between urban center and landscape. Four different varieties of flowering trees are used to heighten the drama of the changing seasons with new fragrances and colors. A huge Torii gate comprised of office towers announces the city to arriving trains which pass through it into a new elevated station. Its vegetation-hung scaffold veils the structure's glass curtain wall, visually relates to the gardens below and recalls the roofed verandas of traditional Japanese houses, becoming a dynamic symbol for a new city in search of an identity.
