33 years ago today, the Jury of the International Architectural Design Competition for the Tokyo International Forum awarded First Prize to Rafael Viñoly.
Viñoly’s proposal for the pre-eminent arts complex – one of the most daring structures ever built in Japan – is fully accessible to the public yet sheltered from the frenetic pace of its urban surroundings and hosts a variety of global exchange and cultural events. The complex’s dramatic Glass Hall consists of two intersecting glass and steel arcs, which enclose a vast central lobby and is composed of seven stories above ground and three below. The Hall’s 60-meter-high (197-foot-high) curtain wall, a thin veil of heat-strengthened laminated glass hanging from the roof, was designed as transparently as possible to allow visual connection from the theatres and the plaza to the curved granite wall housing the conference center beyond.
Learn more about this project here.
