7-3 Embracing the Past and Looking Toward the Future — Osaka City Hall and NEC Headquarters —

Designing architecture can be described as a process of embracing the accumulation of various historical moments and projecting them into the distant future with a new vision. Depending on the project, some buildings place greater emphasis on embracing the past, while others place greater emphasis on projecting into the future; however, in every project, new life as architecture is breathed into the space between the past and the future. Here, I will introduce two distinct examples—the Osaka City Hall and the NEC Headquarters Building—that embrace the past while projecting into a new future.

Nakanoshima, located in Osaka, is nestled between the Dojima and Tosabori Rivers. On Midosuji—Osaka’s main north-south axis, lined with a beautiful row of ginkgo trees—the Osaka City Hall and the Bank of Japan’s Osaka Branch stand facing each other. In Meiji 45 (1912), a design competition was held to construct the Osaka City Hall on a site—formerly a park situated between the Bank of Japan’s Osaka Branch and the Osaka Prefectural Nakanoshima Library—that had been designated as the site for the new city hall. Yokichi Ogawa, a technical engineer with the Taiwan Governor-General’s Office, won first prize in the competition. Based on his basic design, the detailed design was carried out by Yasushi Kataoka—a leading figure in the architectural world at the time—and the Osaka City Government’s Temporary Architecture Division. In Taisho 10 (1921), the imposing Neo-Renaissance-style city hall was completed.

Fifty-seven years later, in order to accommodate the expansion of administrative operations and changes in administrative processing technologies, a decision was made to rebuild the city hall, and a “Design Concept Competition for the New City Hall” was held.The winning proposal by Nikken Sekkei sought to preserve the character of the old city hall while maintaining harmony with the historic, charming architectural ensemble, including the Bank of Japan Osaka Branch, the Nakanoshima Library, and the Osaka City Central Public Hall. Nikken Sekkei is overseeing the design and construction in collaboration with officials from the Osaka City Bureau of Urban Development.
The exterior features a deeply carved granite finish, and the stylized, elongated windows arranged rhythmically along the granite facade are fitted with frames made of a copper-zinc alloy.Furthermore, the design of the new city hall’s council chamber carefully preserves the image of the large, deeply carved wooden arches found in the council chamber of the old city hall. Construction of the new Osaka City Hall was carried out in two phases, and the entire project was completed in Showa 60 (1985).

In Heisei 2 (1990), NEC’s headquarters building—affectionately known as the NEC Super Tower—was completed in Tamachi, Minato Ward, Tokyo, an area densely populated with Tokyo Metropolitan Government-owned apartment buildings and small-to-medium-sized office buildings.Tamachi is a significant location as it is also the birthplace of Nippon Electric Company, and maintaining a good relationship with the local community was of the utmost importance when planning the NEC headquarters building.
One issue with super-tall buildings is the adverse impact they can have on the surrounding environment, specifically through “building winds.” To resolve this problem, a series of wind tunnel experiments were conducted to determine a building shape that would prevent the creation of high-wind zones in the vicinity. As a result, the idea of creating a ventilation shaft in the center of the building was conceived.
Creating this air vent also made it possible to incorporate an atrium in the lower levels that lets in natural light. The lower levels feature offices centered around a bright atrium, while the upper levels—which offer excellent views—are flanked on both sides by a core housing elevators and staircases, resulting in a highly flexible and user-friendly office space.
Towering over the densely populated urban landscape, its silhouette has been likened to a three-stage rocket or the Space Shuttle, and its exterior serves as a symbol of the company’s corporate identity.
Environmental considerations—specifically, the design’s ability to prevent wind turbulence in the surrounding area—resulted in an unprecedented, innovative, and futuristic skyscraper.

Whether it’s the Osaka City Hall, which preserves the historic landscape, or the futuristic NEC Super Tower, each of these buildings sincerely embraces the history that has been passed down through the ages, incorporates the cutting-edge technology of its time, and looks toward the future. To what extent can architecture embrace the passage of time from the past to the future? This is an eternal question that remains unchanged across the ages.

(References)
Takao Konishi (1991), *Up to 13-chome, Kitahama*, Sogensha
Nikken Sekkei (1987), *FACT: Preservation and Regeneration of Architecture*, Nikken Sekkei
(2012) *NA Architect Series 05: Nikken Sekkei*, Nikken BP