No_3_March_1969 — Page 25

Far East BUILDER, March 1969

Shinjuku-Tokyo's biggest urban renewal project

TOKYO METROPOLITAN GOVT.

JUNZO SAKAKURA & ASS.

TAKENAKA KOMUTEN CO. LTD.

IN an effort to alleviate the extra- ordinary concentration of daytime population in the limited space of the central city, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has promoted a series of projects to redevelop the three terminal areas of Shinjuku to the west, Shibuya to the south-west and Ikebukuro to the north.

Busiest of the three areas is Shin- juku, with a heavy concentration of transportation networks. This complex of a national railway, three private rail systems, a subway system and a myriad bus lines, handles the largest passenger traffic of any terminal in Japan. The railways, buses and subway discharge and pick up more than a million passengers daily.

The Shinjuku redevelopment pro- ject became the first target in the Metropolitan Government's huge pro- gramme with the establishment in 1960 of the Shinjuku New Business Centre Construction Public Corporation. Its task was to implement the redevelop- ment of an area of 96 hectares (0.3706

developers

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sq. miles) at the centre of which was the Shinjuku terminal.

This entailed the demolition of many old structures, the reclamation of a water filtration bed, and the construction of a complex of modern buildings. Most conspicuous of the changes is in the terminal building itself and in the area immediately sur- rounding it. Since March 1960 the terminal has undergone a US$40 mil- lion complete remodelling.

Largest in Japan, the mammoth terminal building has three storeys be- low street level and 14 storeys above. Construction of the Odakyu depart- ment store at the western entrance, finished last year, marked the com- pletion of this part of the project.

The Odakyu store, occupying the second basement and all floors from the second above street level, has a total salesfloor space of 54,000 sq. metres, making it the largest retail emporium in Japan.

Floors ninth to fourteenth of the store building are called 'Skytown'

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