Gargoyle Town

Two things were noted about the demolition and rebuilding of Hibiya Park Building. The first was the construction method used at the time of construction. The site of Hibiya Park Building was created in the early 17th century when Hibiya Inlet was filled in for the construction of Edo Castle by the Tokugawa Shogunate. It is covered with 13 to 15m thick alluvial deposits, and it was expected that the construction would be difficult using normal underground construction methods, such as treating the spring water that would accompany the underground excavation work. Therefore, the "Takenaka caisson construction method" was used at the time. This is a construction method in which the underground part of the building is built as an integrated structure above ground as a caisson, and the building is sunk into the ground by its own weight while the soil underneath is excavated using the open caisson method, and installed at a specified underground level. When we think of Nikkatsu Kokusai Kaikan, the caisson construction method is the first thing that comes to mind for us in the construction industry, as it was a revolutionary construction method at the time.

A major feature of this caisson is the blade-shaped structure that protrudes downward from the bottom of the outer wall to prevent the surrounding ground from wrapping around it. Since the underground portion of the new building was constructed inside the basement exterior wall of the existing building, part of the structure was visible during construction. When I saw the tip of the structure that emerged underground, I was impressed by the high level of wisdom and skill of the engineers who worked on this construction at the time. The underground wall of this caisson construction method remains underground, enveloping the basement exterior wall of the new building as a relic of the wisdom and technology left behind by our predecessors.

Another point of interest was the "gargoyle" that was placed on the northeast corner of the 9th floor rooftop of Hibiya Park Building, Marunouchi Nakadori Street Street. It had been installed since the completion of Nikkatsu International Hall, and is 1.5m tall, with the face of a bird, the body of a man, wings on its back, and an impressive appearance with its mouth open and hands as if it is shouting something. It was created by the late sculptor Yoshiharu Kuroda, who served as a council member of the Nitten Exhibition. Gargoyles were originally placed at the exit of the rain gutters on the roof and are said to have played the role of warding off evil spirits, but an article in the Asahi Shimbun morning edition of November 11, 1983, titled "A monster that shouts to encourage humans," said that Yoshiharu Kuroda created it to express his thoughts of "Hey, Japanese people, hang in there!" during the chaotic period after the war. The gargoyle of Hibiya Park Building, which encouraged Japanese people after the war, has been re-installed at the northeast corner of the newly built The Peninsula Tokyo, near its original height. I hope that it will once again encourage and inspire us Japanese people.

In this way, being involved in the development of the Marunouchi area makes you feel the depth of the wisdom, technology, culture, and history left behind by our predecessors. When trying to utilize the potential of a piece of land in urban development, not only the current environment but also what our predecessors left behind and the lifestyle and culture that has existed in that area provide various suggestions. Through the Hibiya Park Building reconstruction project, we have renewed our determination to build on that depth and create new creations that will be handed down to future generations.