Herzog & De Meuron: Prada Aoyama Tokyo

In the Aoyama district of Tokyo, a mixed-use neighborhood of low-rise buildings where not a square meter of land has been left unoccupied, the Swiss architecture team of Herzog & de Meuron has built a new store for Prada. In this chunky, silvery book, they meticulously illustrate the creative process that led to the realization of "a house and a plaza," a tall and narrow kaleidoscope-like structure that houses a two-story retail space and multiple levels of offices, backed by an outdoor space for the public—a rarity in crowded Tokyo. The finished structure, encased in a visually porous shell or skin, is as decorative as it is architectural—or as architectural as it is decorative—and is both metaphorically and literally linked to its surrounding environment, and to the idea of the garment. Here is the story of a theoretically and structurally complex building told lovingly and simply by its architects, through words, models, sketches, photographs, and architectural renderings.