Pop-up card (buildings in Tokyo)
Last December, the Gakushi Kaikan in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, was closed due to aging.
Having seen the news, I created a pop-up card for Gakushi Kaikan.
I made this card including both the main building and the new building.
(On my website I write ‘main building / new building’, but some newspaper articles refer to them as ‘old building / new building’.)
The main building, on the right in the card, was completed in 1928 and designed by Teitaro Takahashi. Sano Toshiki was at the centre of the building project, and Takahashi was a student of Sano.
The new building on the left side of the card was extended in 1937. Akira Fujimura was in charge of the design of this one. He was the chief engineer of Mitsubishi’s Estate Section and later president of Mitsubishi Estate (term of office: 1946-48).
According to an announcement by the Gakushi-Kai, the site will be redeveloped, including the neighbouring land, and a large communal building will be constructed.
As for the building of Gakushi Kaikan, the plan is to demolish the new building but keep the main building. The main building will be relocated (without disassembly) and reinforced against earthquakes.
The redevelopment project will take until around 2030.
Demolition of the new building will start in April this year.
****
I have also posted other pop-up cards of buildings in Tokyo on the main site.
This one is the (former) Marunouchi Building, completed in 1923.
It is an office building constructed by Mitsubishi Limited partnership. Kotaro Sakurai of the Estate Department was in charge of the design, and Akira Fujimura, mentioned above, was also involved in the building.
The Great Kanto Earthquake struck a few months after its completion, and restoration and reinforcement work was carried out until the following year.
The building was known for a long time as the “Maru-Biru", but was demolished in 1999 and a new building was erected on the site.
Lastly, a pop-up card of the former Salvation Army headquarters, created ten years ago.
The Salvation Army headquarters was built in 1928 after the previous building collapsed in the Great Kanto Earthquake.
I made some modifications and reworked the card.
This building also no longer exists.
This time, two new works and one revised work were updated.
The pattern of the Gakushi Kaikan can be downloaded, if you would like to have a look.