Ryuga Tower | Enrique Greenwell

Ryuga Tower Japan has been for millennia a country based on traditions and direct contact with nature, this way its architecture has always been respectful of the environment in which it has evolved into fine examples of interaction with its immediate surroundings. The care lent to the use of materials from the site has created an indivisible link between this and nature, therefore the design of the Japanese garden is based on a perfect balance with the surroundings. One of the typical characteristics of these spaces of meditation is the careful use of vegetation and water, basic elements of the design that have heightened some of the more recognized examples of architecture in the Far East. Based on this symbiosis of natural elements in juxtaposition with the surroundings generated by man it was decided to use a Japanese term as design principle, “Ryuga” literally translates as “Gentle flow”, making a clear reference to the sublime static raked gravel furrows that are woven with the vegetation and the rocks that seem to arise from the subsoil. The Ryuga tower is rather a vertical expression of the Japanese traditional garden, borrowing its colors, organic textures and characteristic forms, its dynamic shape emulates a blooming Japanese magnolia; the base transforms the concept of raked gravel into a glazed three-dimensional canopy that contains the hotel, whereas the tower holds floors dedicated to office space in the middle part and High-End apartments in the upper floors. Offsetting floors give way to lush green spaces that allow for sun control, while ETFE panels in helical arrangement help gather rain water for irrigation. The top is crowned by individual transparent cupolas which house inner gardens that simultaneously provide random meeting points and 360 degrees of unobstructed views of Tokyo.