(New page: '''Omotesando Hills''' (表参道ヒルズ) is an urban development located in the Aoyama District of Tokyo, Japan. The complex, built by the urban development company, [[Mori ...) |
(New page: '''Omotesando Hills''' (表参道ヒルズ) is an urban development located in the Aoyama District of Tokyo, Japan. The complex, built by the urban development company, [[Mori ...) |
Omotesando Hills (表参道ヒルズ) is an urban development located in the Aoyama District of Tokyo, Japan. The complex, built by the urban development company, Mori Building, is one of a series of urban complexes from Mori that started with its initial design of Roppongi Hills in the 1980s. Omotesando Hills, opened in 2005, is a much smaller version of that design.
Omotesando Hills was built for $330 million along a 250 meter stretch of Omotesando, a shopping avenue in Aoyama that had become quite famous on its own. Utilizing Tadao Ando, the architect well known for his work with Issey Miyake, the complex contains 130 shops and 38 apartments.
Its development was marked with multiple bouts of controversy as the building replaced the Dojunkai Aoyama Apartments, originally built in 1927 after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. Protests and public outcry from those seeking to preserve the historical significance of those apartments was wide spread. Additionally, there was a good deal of concern from local landowners and citizens over the use of Tadao Ando as architect as his designs tend toward the flashy, fashionable aspects that would detract from historical sites nearby and only increase the amount of people flowing through.
The building itself only showcases six stories above ground to ensure that it did not go above the height of the nearby Zelkova trees which line the famous street. However, another six stories stretch beneath ground where additional shops are located.
Omotesando Hills is home to six floors of shopping, each one with a theme of sorts for which kinds of clothing, food, and amenities are offered.