Max&Co Omotesando, Tokyo

TOGNON OMOTESANDO BUILDING BY ANDREA TOGNON When the design process start in October 2012, the idea behind the new Max&Co building in Tokyo was to build a piece of architecture that could express a clear identity through simplicity. The brief told about authenticity, brand values end efficiency. The idea of a building open to the city, welcoming, elegant and iconic. Our ambition was to start a process that can develop design values in a collaborative approach with our client. To build an original design piece with an inner quality, carefully designed and crafted. A building that can have a strong dialogue with the context where it take place. All the directions we explored and the decisions we made reflect on this process and on our way to interiorize Tokyo as urban landscape. One of the way we can try to describe our design approach is a composition of few architectural elements shaped and displayed in an attempt to link Italian and Japanize history of architectural forms. From Italian rationalism to Japanize classical tradition, in the building you can find elements or materials or a way to approach the space that reflect this way . Japan in our mind is the other one we having a dialog with. A different cultural world to learn from and to talk with. From Italian architecture here we have the materiality, from the Japanize one the care on the detail, the execution method. The challenge of this project is to be original and unique, rather cuddly and welcoming. simple and flexible in the use. The building is a composition of few familiar architectural elements: a column displayed in a transparent box, two golden staircases climbing till a golden pergola overlooking the city. A stone bench on a sidewalk, like a public art piece make a pause in the busy flux of this street.