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(The photographs below are of models, taken at a simulated height of 1000m.)
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(Click on photos for enlargements)
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Midtown Manhattan is composed as a systematic grid of large-scale blocks that house rows of ultra-highrise office, residential, and other specialized buildings. Tokyo's small, irregularly shaped blocks are crammed with low buildings forming jumbled streetscapes. If Manhattan defines a vertical metropolis, Tokyo could exemplify its horizontal counterpart.
Because intensive land utilization was not implemented in central Tokyo, residential population and industry has expanded far into the suburbs and surrounding prefectures, resulting in massive, urban sprawl.
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Minato Ward, Tokyo
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Manhattan, New York
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The skyscraper-lined streets of Manhattan have set the stage for countless movies and novels, and many of those buildings are major tourist attractions. The implementation of the elevator at the turn of the century paved the way for highrise architecture. The Park Row Building (117m) was built in 1899, the Metropolitan Life Building (213m) in 1909, the Chrysler Building (319m) in 1930, the Empire State Building (381m) in 1931... and in 1972 the World Trade Center (417m) opened its doors.
Tokyo's first skyscraper was the Kasumigaseki Building (147m) built in 1968. The Nishi-Shinjuku and Ikebukuro areas of Tokyo have subsequently become homes to ultra-highrise buildings, the tallest of which is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices building (243m) completed in 1991. The tallest building in Japan is Yokohama's Landmark Tower (296m) built in 1993 -- still no Japanese skyscraper exceeds the height of New York's Empire State Building (381m) built 70 years ago.
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Let's take a look at the rest of Asia, where cities are rapidly reaching new heights. Hong Kong became home to the Bank of China Building (369m) in 1989, and Central Plaza (374m) in 1992. In 1997, Kuala Lumpur unveiled the Petronas Towers (452m). 1998 marked the completion of the Jinmao Building in Shanghai (421m), and the opening of the Shanghai World Financial Center (500m) is expected in 2006.
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The Minato Ward model, which is 5.4m by 4.5m in size, has been featured in a variety of local and international media for its originality and precision. It was recently part of an exhibition held at the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam entitled "Towards Totalscape" exploring contemporary Japanese architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture. It received high acclaim from the urban planning and architecture worlds, as well as from the mass media.
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