A glass garage

A glass garage
Audi Forum Tokyo drives in to Japan's "Iceberg" building

By Jessie Bove, Associate Editor
May 01, 2007

Courtesy of Audi Japan

Standing seven stories high in the middle of Tokyo's central business district and fashion center, Shibuya, "The Iceberg" building is an architectural wonder designed by Tokyo-based Creative Designers International (CDI). The Iceberg is a commercial building that features a unique structural system for supporting the asymmetrical glass fa�ade and a completely transparent passenger lift shaft. The exterior was inspired by a combination of "crystal, an iceberg and a crushed PET (plastic) bottle," says Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, director of CDI. Three kinds of color-laminated glass enhance the edge effect of the building shape, making it look like a giant crystal rising up in the middle of the city.

At the base of the breathtaking Iceberg, the 10th Audi Forum in the world occupies the first two floors. Audi Forum Tokyo, which debuted last December, is an information site where visitors can experience all aspects of the Audi brand through its latest models and also through various events and exhibitions. In 2002, Audi opened a composite museum as its first forum at its headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany. Since then, the company has opened Audi Forums in major cities around the globe, including London, Madrid, Stockholm, Beijing, New York and Germany (four).

Playing off the Iceberg fa�ade of the building, Audi Forum Tokyo was "designed with the image of cars confined in a crystal structure, which would dynamically run out of the building and into the city," says Masumi Uchida, Audi Forum manager, Tokyo. Designed by Projects International Japan Inc. (PIJ), the layout of the Forum consists of a "Branding Floor" and a "Presentation Floor." The Branding Floor is on the second floor and exhibits the latest vehicles, as well as historic and racing cars, rare models and custom-made vehicles offered under the "Audi exclusive" program. The second floor also features an Audi Caf� equipped with high-tech audio equipment and a plasma display media wall. The first-level Presentation Floor is used for vehicle sales and product presentation, but can also be used for music, fashion, culture and sports events. Functioning as a sort of mini-dealership displaying up to nine cars at a time, the Presentation Floor makes Tokyo the first Audi Forum location that sells cars on-site.

Audi's goal from the start: to promote recognition of its brand image--progressive, sporty and sophisticated--and also to boost car sales in Tokyo as part of its "metropolitan strategy." As one of the most trendy and fashionable areas in Japan, many international premium brands have set up shop in Shibuya, which is why Audi decided to locate its one-and-only brand showroom in Japan there. "It was a big challenge for Audi to have this kind of facility in Shibuya, where it is very popular for younger people [than Audi's typical target consumer]," says Kashino. "However, it is a suitable environment to show the new concept of Audi and its philosophy for the future."

Audi Forum Tokyo was designed in accordance with the latest Audi corporate identity and design. The large arc form design in the exhibition space is a design that will be applied worldwide as the standard for new Audi showrooms. A highlight of Audi Forum Tokyo is the array of glass panels called the "Media Wall," created to express the forum's emotional message to customers. With a built-in lighting system, the giant media wall extends about 66 ft. in length across two 20-ft.-high floors. Audi Japan says the media wall shares the crystalline feeling of the Iceberg building, and also "serves to give a strong impression of the progressive image of Audi with its changes and movements of lights interacting with the communication of the forum as messages." The curved, interior-lit glass wall can be altered to produce a different atmosphere depending on the event. The main glass wall features laminated glass, which was imported from Germany, with one anti-reflection glass layer and a second white-coated layer.

Each floor of the Forum is defined with two large curves that direct the space toward the front road and toward the city, explains Yoichi Kashino, partner and representative director for PIJ. "The main space between these curves is used for showing Audi product, and other functions are set behind these two curves," Kashino says. Audi Forum Tokyo's interior curving lines contrast with the exterior's straight lines and sharp edges, creating a sort of design "dynamism," Uchida adds. This dynamism, along with asymmetry and transparency, define the Forum's design, which Kashino points out is purposefully kept simple. "We tried to avoid strong elements with details that would stand out individually," Kashino says. "We kept in mind that the leading actor in Audi Forum Tokyo is the car itself--not interior design or other elements."