The Architectural Expression of Environmental Control Systems

Chapter 12Tokyo Gas ‘Earth Port’, Yokohama, Japan

 

 

We now move across the globe to the third of our March 1996 completions—still in the northern hemisphere, but at latitude 35.5°N, significantly closer to the equator than Hannover. Designated ‘Earth Port’ by its owners, the To -kyo Gas Company, this 5645m² floor area office building is designed to accommodate ∼220 employees (Jones, 1998). The site is in Kohoku New Town north of the city of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture. The building itself is in close proximity to Center Minami Station on the Yokohama City Metro (Plate 20).

As reported by Shibata (1999)—the owner's representative on the concept design team—‘the name, Earthport, has been applied with the wish that it may engender “harmony ...