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Omotesando Hills

Interior of the shopping mall

Sign leading to entrance

Omotesando Hills^[1] (表参道ヒルズ, Omotesandō hiruzu) was built in 2005, in a series of Tokyo urban developments by Mori Building. It occupies a two hundred and fifty meter stretch of Omotesandō, a famous shopping and (previously) residential road in Aoyama sometimes termed Tokyo's Champs-Élysées. It was designed by Tadao Ando, and contains over 130 shops and 38 apartments.

The construction of Omotesando Hills, built at a cost of $330 million, has been marked by controversy.^[2] The building replaced the Bauhaus-inspired Dōjunkai Aoyama Apartments, which had been built in 1927 after the 1923 Kantō earthquake.^[3] The destruction of the apartments again raised questions about Japan's interest in preserving historic buildings.^[4]

Minoru Mori noted that there had been resistance from local landowners to the use of Ando as architect, saying that they were concerned that his buildings were too fashionable for the area.^[5]

Mark Devlin, publisher of Metropolis magazine, and a local resident, complained about the development's monolithic design, overtly commercial nature, and lack of concern for the neighboring environment.^[6] Minoru Mori defended the project in the same magazine a few weeks later.^[5]

Regarding the construction, Ando said, "It's not Tadao Ando as an architect who has decided to rebuild and make shops, it was the owners themselves who wanted it to be new housing and to get some value with shops below. My task was how to do it in the best way.”^[7]

1. ^ Hiruzu (or in quasi-English "hills") is a term used by Mori Building and Japanese realtors for newly built and heavily advertised combinations of shops, offices, and apartments. It does not imply a hilltop or hillside location.
2. ^ Attention Avid Shoppers: A High-End Complex Opens Its Doors. The New York Times (February 15, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
3. ^ Omotesando Hills Project Page. Mori Building (January 19, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
4. ^ Dwellers bought off; ball to fall on Aoyama flats. The Japan Times (April 19, 2002). Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
5. ^ ^{a b} The view from the Hills: Minoru Mori defends the Omotesando Hills development and reveals big plans for Tokyo. Metropolis (February 3, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
6. ^ The Wailing Wall: Mori and Ando scar Omotesando. Metropolis (October 24, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
7. ^ Tadao Ando Interview. Icon Magazine (September, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-03-11.

• Official Omotesando Hills webpage