Miyashita Park

In Japanese cities, dense development means public facilities evolve to combine many functions on one site, and park-like open space becomes precious. Recently, public spaces are becoming commercial and commercial spaces public; a new complex blending park, commerce and hotel creates the leisure and activity people truly desire. Miyashita Park is a new project that asks what ideal public space means in a new era, built on the 1964 Shibuya park. The renovated Miyashita Park mainly consists of public green space on top, commercial facilities below and a hotel, blending all three into one living block that returns an active park to the dense city center. Rooftop lawns, skate parks and food shops activate the block from morning to night, demonstrating how a small urban site can accommodate both leisure and commerce without sacrificing public life. The project has been credited with revitalizing central Shibuya and has won international awards for its creative stacking of park, retail and hotel on an urban block.