Design update

Including news of a new Heatherwick Studio project in Tokyo and an imaginatively greened building in the Netherlands

Construction has started on a 20-acre, mixed-use development in the Toranomon-Azabudai district of Tokyo, Japan, designed by Heatherwick Studio for Mori Building Company. Working with the valley setting and irregular shape of the plot, the studio has created an undulating profile across six buildings, which allows light to penetrate the below-ground, storeys. A pergola-like grid supports a series of terraces and planted slopes that ensure there is a flow of green space from ground level to the high point of the development at 43m. The project is due to be completed by 2023. heatherwick.com