The Architectural Grandeur of Omotesando, Tokyo

Omotesando is a tree-lined avenue located in the Harajuku and Aoyama district in Tokyo, stretching from Meiji Shrine in Aoyama-dori to Harajuku station. Omotesando is a prime location for haute couture brands like Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton, but even more impressive than Omotesando’s vast collection of fashion and jewellery stores are the stunning architecturally ambitious buildings these stores occupy. Flanked on either sides are buildings with stylized glass facades, sleek angles and carefully crafted support, designed by famous architects and recipients of the Pritzker Prize, the highest possible honor an architect can get. Omotesando is a single neighbourhood with more buildings by great modern architects than anywhere else. Its sidewalks are like fashion show ramps stalked by Tokyo’s most stylish citizens who drive Maseratis and shop at Dior. Walking down the street of “Tokyo’s Champs-Élysées” is both an impressive and humbling experience. Here are some of the highlights of Omotesando. Audi Forum Tokyo Designed by Creative Designers International, the Audi Forum is nicknamed “the iceburg” because of its crystalline form and soaring height. Left: Photo credit / Right: Photo credit Photo credit Tokyu Plaza An ambitious building complex that houses fashion shops like American Eagle Outfitters and The Shel'tter Tokyo with a roof-top public park and an entrance featuring a spectacular wall-of-mirrors. Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Dior Omotesando French fashion house Dior's flagship store in Tokyo, designed by Pritzker Prize laureates SANAA. The building is surrounded by transparent glass walls set in front of a translucent wavy acrylic screen, sandwiched between horizontal white bands at unequal heights. At night, the stacked layers of the 30-metre-tall design glow with different intensities.