Browsing Shops Through Nature

The Japanese are good with design. A statement of context as much as fact, SATORI & SCOUT continually find that the Japanese push the boundaries of societies, and it can be argued that design is only as good as it's user. A shopping centre located in Tokyo (Japan), it might seem, has limited content in relation to the world of design, but this '˜Log Road, Daikayama' is particularly high on the asprational lifestyle scale.

Planned and designed by Shin Ohori of General Design Co, this newly developed commercial space is a myriad of nature parks, retail units and pedestrianised zones to help you meander through whats on offer. With a floor area of 3,200 square meters, the shopping centre occupies a former train track yard, and with various buildings and even more landscaped opportunities, it is hard not to feel at one with nature whilst browsing the latest fashion trends - almost so that the retail area is a light mocking of other over-engineered, concrete heavy shopping centres across the world. Still trying to work out what came first, the trees or the buildings, such an aspirationally happy-wellbeing shopping location is very much welcomed in the face of the growing number of out of city retail parks and miles upon miles of car parking. With light winds encouraged through the site and various intimate terraces with an abundance of public furniture and greenery, SATORI & SCOUT really appreciate Log Road, Daikayama.

As Shin Ohori explains, "We thoroughly studied the inclination of the narrow and long site as well as position, height and density of the surrounding buildings. throughout the design and construction process, we always envisioned the image of the facility that has naturally aged with the passing of time, rather than the just-opened and most-talked about fashionable commercial facility at the peak of its beauty." Discover more about the architects at: General-Design.net.

Photography credit : Daici Ano