Tokyo Big Sight

Tokyo Big Sight (東京ビッグサイト) is a convention center in Tokyo, Japan. Opened in April of 1996, the convention center is located in the Odaiba district of Tokyo Bay and is one of the largest convention centers in the city. The conference tower is a well known architectural icon with Tokyo as well.

Development

Tokyo Big Sight was contracted by the Tokyo Government’s Bureau of Finance to eight total contractors, including companies like Shimizu and Hazama. The construction of the convention center commenced in October of 1992 and was completed in October of 1996 with a total contract cost of a little over 40 Billion Yen.

A major event was made of the 1994 raising of the 6500 ton main structure of the tower on June 30, 1994 when Shunichi Suzuki oversaw the event. The raising took 3 days and involved a specially built compute guiding system.

The Conference Tower

The most commonly associated image of Tokyo Big Sight is its Conference Tower, a massive set of four inverted pyramids built upon massive support columns. The first floor of the tower consists of an 1100 seat reception hall and four separate conference rooms. The second floor contains the Entrance Plaza and the final three floors of space are empty due to the lack of below ground structural support.

The sixth and seventh floor can be accessed via an escalator on the second floor and are the main convention floor locations within the tower. Ten conference rooms on the sixth floor and four conferences rooms on the seventh floor can hold thousands of visitors together at once. The eighth floor also has five additional conference rooms of its own.

The East Exhibition Hall

Located to the east of the Conference Tower is the East Exhibition Hall, consisting mainly of the Galleria – a two tiered, 600 meter long building with three equally sized exhibition halls connected. The Hall is three stories tall and has multiple moving walkways for easy access. The glass roof is mobile, allowing people who use the rooms to control the sunlight entering the rooms at any given time. The three rooms can also be combined for a maximum capacity of 26,000 square meters.

West Exhibition Hall

The final part of Tokyo Big Sight is the West Exhibition Hall where four internal halls surround a two level Atrium. The rooms are almost entirely smaller meeting rooms and offices, though outside and next to the West Exhibition Hall is the outdoor exhibition area overlooking the water.

Uses of Tokyo Big Sight

Tokyo Big Sight is used annually for a large number of different events, including the annual Tokyo International Anime Fair and Comiket. Millions of Japanese and international visitors attend each year in one of the largest convention spaces in Japan.

External Links

• Official Tokyo Big Sight Website (Japanese)
• Official Company Website (Japanese)