As one of the largest and most prestigious undertakings of the Mitsubishi Estate, Co., the Parkhouse Harumi Towers condominium project is to serve as the flagship of their brand, emblematic of Mitsubishi’s commitment to providing metropolitan Tokyo with a more appealing cityscape.

Towers C1 and C2 are conceptualized as siblings with two unique designs. Each has its own character, image and movement, in dialogue and harmony with one another. The two towers share common massing, orientation, program, and structure, but feature distinct façades that express separate attitudes toward materiality, texture and environment. While both facade designs share the function of providing an outer cover for the exposed building structure, drainage and mechanical systems, the two designs explore aspects of this layering in very different ways.

The C1 Weave scheme sculpts an interaction of light and form from the depth of its louver screen, while the C2 Origami scheme creates a planar pattern through the play of surface transparency and reflection. While both designs are given a common ordering rhythm based on the 1.20m module of their glass guardrails, this rhythm is expressed differently for each scheme. Where the Weave scheme develops a more differentiated rhythm with additional vertical fins at every 4.80m, the Origami scheme subdues the expression of the individual frames; highlighting a more planar reading of its reflective glass surface.

At their crowns, the relationship between the inner and outer layers of each building is reversed; where the Weave tower’s diaphanous glass windscreen becomes the dominant element, the sculptural forms of the Origami’s tower’s underlying skeletal structure pulls free from the glass volumes of its tower shaft.

While aesthetically distinct in articulation, material and color, the Weave and Origami towers engage in a joint dialogue of form, light and space.