Thomas Heatherwick surveys the scene at the new Azabudai Hills district in Tokyo: 'We are sitting, at this moment, just a few metres from the tallest building in Japan. Thousands of square metres of gallery are beneath us. But look – it’s like we’re sitting in a small park. Your emotions change when the landscape becomes three-dimensional.'
The British designer (who brought three-dimensionality to Wallpaper’s 20th anniversary cover back in 2016) is seated at a small table, surrounded by a textured patchwork of nature and architecture. Flowing all around are slopes of greenery, with art installations, plants and citrus trees – all woven into the curved undulations of a grid-like structure, layered with intimate walkways, courtyards and pavilions. This is the multi-dimensional scene that lies at the heart of Azabudai Hills, a major city-in-a-city development that opens its doors this week in central Tokyo after more than three decades of meticulous urban planning.
