NIKKEN SEKKEI URBANISM

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REVITALIZING THE UNDERGROUND Kawasaki is located south of Tokyo and is one of the main cities forming the Greater Tokyo Area. Kawasaki city developed as a center of industry in the Tokyo bay area, and is now transforming into a research and development center of technology, servicing the Greater Tokyo Area. The central transport hub, Kawasaki JR Station is used by approx. 200,000 boarding passengers daily, making it one of the busiest stations in the vicinity.The 31,000 sqm Station Square in front of the East Entrance of Kawasaki JR Station was built in 1986 and includes the “Azalea” underground shopping arcade (one of the largest underground commercial floor areas in Japan) and the bus terminal. At the time of construction it was considered a contemporary solution to separate pedestrian from vehicular trafc, to ensure safe pedestrian access via the underground shopping arcade to the city center and the above ground bus terminal. 20 years later, socio-economic changes led to the requirement for redevelopment of the station square. The vertical separation of the underground and the above ground proved to be problematic for the aging society, as it proved hard for people to navigate around the underground arcade. Also access to the non-centralized bus bays was only possible via staircases.The redevelopment of Kawasaki Station East Plaza integrates the bus bays into two large island terminals according to their destination, and the introduction of new escalators and elevators enable barrier free vertical access and serve to invigorate both the underground and ground level spaces. The Station East Plaza and Shopping Arcade have been modied to allow direct street level access via pedestrian crossings. Renovation of the underground arcade included a large new skylight to bring daylight into the arcade. This light also serves to aid way finding through the underground arcade. The introduction of a number of technologies throughout the redevelopment, particularly in the station plaza, have helped to promote and symbolically express the renaissance of Kawasaki City as a city of technology, research and development, while at the same time being sensitively introduced to have minimal impact on the cityscape. Such technologies included high efciency LED lighting, self-cleaning façade treatments and photovoltaic energy production from façade panels, water absorbing paving materials, vertical greenery wall treatments, and so on.Consultations and planning efforts took almost 5 years, while the actual construction time took only 2.5 years to complete. Through management of the construction schedule, it was possible for the underground arcade and the bus terminal to continue operating throughout the renovations.Kawasaki Station East Plaza | Kawasaki, Japan, 2011 Site Area: 3.1 hectares | Below Floors: 2NSC NIKKEN SEKKEI URBANISMSUBTERRANEAN SPACES046 _ 047

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