Tokyo's Sony Park, which welcomed 8.54 million visitors in three years, is on the path to renewal
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2025-01-07
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Located in the heart of Tokyo's Ginza district, Ginza Sony Park is a vibrant park that offers a variety of recreational activities and events. As the final phase of the redevelopment project of the former Tokyo Ginza Sony Building, the new Ginza Sony Park project will open on January 26, 2025.
Ginza Sony Park Project
The Ginza Sony Park project is a redevelopment project of the Sony Building, which has a history of over 50 years as part of Ginza, with the concept of providing public space.
The Sony Building was established in 1966 by Akio Morita, one of the founders of Sony. A 33-square-meter public space in one corner of the building is a microcosm of the concept of providing public space, which Akio Morita called the "Ginza Garden." To inherit the founder's vision in the next 50 years, we implemented a plan to expand the "Ginza Garden" into the "Ginza Park," making it a place that can create new vitality for the Ginza district, allowing visitors to easily access and enjoy it in various ways.
The reconstruction work was carried out in two phases, with a unique Sony design. The first phase was a unique experiment, transforming the site into a park during the demolition process (August 2018 to September 2021), rather than immediately constructing a new building. During these three years (including a period of the pandemic), the park received 8.54 million visitors.
Following this was the second phase, the demolition and construction phase of the new building. Ginza Sony Park—the final form of the project—was completed in August 2024 and is scheduled to open on January 26, 2025.
The Sony Building, constructed in the 1960s, was Sony Group's headquarters in Tokyo and is considered a representative work of Japanese postmodern architecture. However, as Sony's business expanded, this showcase building of the "electronics manufacturer Sony" could no longer represent Sony. In May 2013, it was decided to redevelop the Sony Building.
After the Sony Building was demolished floor by floor in 2017, the underground four floors and the above-ground part of the original building were designed into a green park, named Sony Park. The park connects the subway hall and the Nishi-Ginza underground parking lot, and is considered a three-dimensional underground space, leading visitors to rethink the definition of parks and public spaces.
In order to create a sense of openness and a new landscape in this high-density Ginza area, the building height was deliberately set to half that of a standard building. The unique architectural elements of the original Sony Building, its design concept of providing public space, its "connecting" architecture and vertical corridor style, are continued in Ginza Sony Park.
Ginza Sony Park will regularly host various events on each floor, but will not set up any fixed storefronts for tenants or other businesses. The B3F will serve as a casual dining area for food-related events, while the surrounding "leisure" spaces (such as the ground-level atrium) are available for people to stroll or relax.
Floor Structure: Five above-ground floors; Four underground floors (B4F includes the equipment room, etc.)
Site Area: 707.42 square meters
Total Floor Area: 4,357.49 square meters
Height: 33.9 meters
The exterior walls use aluminum louvers, with precisely calculated angles to ensure sufficient natural light penetration. The facade uses 2,300 cathode ray tubes, turning the building into a giant billboard, making this Sony Building, passed by 300,000 people daily, a hot topic. He hoped that this building could become a meeting place for young people.
The exposed concrete structure creates an open, raw atmosphere. This material, combined with the lower-level building, echoes its platform nature as a "Park." A grid-like framework covers the concrete structure, creating a gentle, non-obtrusive boundary between the park and the street, allowing the light to filter in like dappled sunlight.
Continuing the glorious history of Sony, it also connects to transportation hubs and directly to the subway, fulfilling its urban function as a building at the intersection of Ginza.
The first project launched simultaneously with the opening is "Sony Park Exhibition 2025," a creative interactive project jointly produced by six artists, themed around Sony Music Entertainment and the six major business areas of the Sony Group—gaming, music, film, entertainment technology, semiconductors, and finance. It's transformed into an exhibition full of fun and adventure. Offering a series of projects only available at the Ginza Sony Park, six artists from Sony Music Group are also involved. The Sony Park Exhibition, previously held in Ginza, Tokyo in 2021 and in Kyoto in 2022, was extremely well-received, becoming one of Ginza Sony Park's most popular events. The Sony Park Exhibition will feature new artists and redesigned interactive projects, namely "Games Tell Stories of Growth," "Music Accompanies Long Journeys," and "Film Illuminates Knowledge," "Entertainment Technology Breaks the Mold," "Finance Records Life's Details," "Semiconductors Create New Realities" 。
In addition, a casual restaurant is about to open, offering a new culinary experience in the form of "culinary events," created by Ginza Sony Park based on the concept of "Yoshoku" (a unique Japanese culinary culture that adapts Western cuisine to suit Japanese tastes).
Special Research on Investment in the Cultural and Tourism Industry
To gain a deeper understanding of the investment and development of the cultural and tourism industry, the China Tourism Academy, in collaboration with the China Amusement Machine and Amusement Park Association and other organizations, is conducting a special research project on investment in the cultural and tourism industry. We sincerely invite all member units and cultural and tourism enterprises to participate in the research.
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