At the epicenter of the world’s largest urban area, Tokyo is synonymous with density—an overflux of people, spaces, and ideas. Upending the general take of Tokyo as an urban over-stimulant, photographer Gabriel de la Chapelle has captured a novel, arresting view of the city as desolate landscape in his series, Tokyo End. His images are achingly captivating, showing empty stretches of urban infrastructure. Upon closer inspection, the empty “highways” are in fact canals with road striping superimposed. With not a soul in view, these impossibly beautiful images offer an intimate (if inaccessible) window onto the city. Click through to see them all.

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As the center of all things bright and blinking, Tokyo gets a fitting tribute in a new marketing campaign by creative director Tsubasa Oyagi. The project, a website called Tokyo City Symphony, invites users to DJ their own light shows, which are projected onto a 3D model of the city. If you’ve ever eyed Kohn Pedersen Fox’s Mori Tower and thought its roof looks a little like cat ears, now’s your chance to turn it into a wide-eyed green feline. Or perhaps you’d prefer a silvery urban dystopia along the lines of Blade Runner? They have that too! Read more.

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Popular Choice Award in the retail category. See the full list of winners here.

Sugamo Shinkin Bank’s motto is “we take pleasure in serving happy customers,” and even the biggest killjoy would have trouble suppressing a smile upon entering one of this credit union’s whimsical, brightly colored branches. Its latest home, designed by Emmanuelle Moureaux Architecture + Design, in the Shimura region of Tokyo, is no exception. With its tiered rainbow roof, flower-stenciled interiors, and a facade that glows neon at night, Sugamo Shinkin’s irresistible Shimura branch won over the hearts of Architizer readers, who awarded it an A+ popular choice award in the retail category. Read more!

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Popular Vote Award in the workspace category. See the full list of winners here.

Rows of cubicles, the din of fluorescent lights, packets of instant powdered coffee—you won’t find any of these things at the Pasona Group’s new headquarters in downtown Tokyo. Instead, you’ll see open workspaces, natural sunlight, and plants, everywhere: tomato vines suspended over conference rooms, lemon and passion fruit trees scattered between meeting spaces, and tiny sprouts growing under benches. Best of all, these delectable flora are later harvested, prepared, and served at the building’s cafeterias. Lucky Pasona employees!

NYC-based firm Kono Designs has transformed Pasona’s nine-story, 215,000-square-foot corporate office into an omnivore’s delight, with a double-skin green facade, offices, an auditorium, cafeterias, a rooftop garden, and urban farming facilities integrated within the building. The green space comprises 43,000 square feet with 200 species, including fruits, vegetables, and rice. (Seriously, the main lobby has a rice paddy—and a broccoli field!) “It is the largest and most direct farm-to-table of its kind ever realized inside an office building in Japan,” says Kono in a statement.

Pasona HQ also offers public seminars, lectures, and internships, hoping to boost Japan’s dwindling farming industry and equip a new generation of growers with the business acumen and hands-on experience to start their own traditional or urban farms. It’s a truly unique workplace environment that creates a better working environment and engages the wider Tokyo community by showcasing the benefits and technology of urban agriculture. And it’s beautiful. Click through to see more photos from this amazing A+-winning project!

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Easter is just around the corner, and you don’t need to celebrate the holiday to enjoy all the Cadbury Creme Eggs, marshmallow Peeps, and chocolate bunnies currently in season. But there’s one guilt-free Easter tradition that we (gasp!) love even more than candy: That’s the good ole-fashioned Easter Egg Hunt. We’ve gone all over the world and back to find the best, most labyrinthian, and prettiest public parks to hide—or search for—those colorful little treasures. From ancient ruins to futuristic gardens, here are our nine favorite places for an Easter Egg Hunt. Click through to see them all!

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Jury Award in the low-rise residential category. See the full list of winners here.

Cramming a new residential building in a super-dense Tokyo neighborhood—and doing so with aplomb—would pose a challenge for even the most seasoned architecture firm. But if anyone is up for the task, it’s Key Operation. (The Japanese practice once designed a home based around the movements of a client’s cat, for goodness’ sake!) Not to say that Yotsuya Tenera, Key Operation’s minimalist concrete-and-metal-bar apartment block built in 2010 in the quiet Tokyo neighborhood of Yotsuya, was a walk in the park.

For one, says architect Akira Koyama, there were planning constraints, such as an oddly laid-out plot, rights to light, and evacuation requirements. Not to mention limited space. For two, Koyama had to figure out how to make a heavy concrete building fit into a serene residential neighborhood populated with temples and shrines. ”The concrete texture of this project was one of the important design criteria,” he says in an e-mail. “And in comparison with the surrounding buildings, the volume of this complex is larger.” Read more!

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It’s only right that Toyo Ito finally be awarded the Prizker Prize. While previous Pritzker jurors saw it fit to highlight the work of up-and-comers designers like 2012 winner Wang Shu (then a ripe 49 years old) or even 2010 dual laureates Ryue Nishizawa and Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA (whom Ito employed and mentored), this year’s jury chose to acknowledge the architect’s four-decade long career and the “timeless” works he has produced in that time. The committee, which annually honors an architect of high merit who has significantly contributed to the built environment, cited the consistently high level of “conceptual innovation” and “superb” execution that characterize all of Ito’s buildings. Ito, the sixth Japanese architect to nab the award, responded with trademark demure, saying that he was ”painfully aware of my own inadequacy,” which he “turns into energy to challenge the next project.” Read more.

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Project: Deck House

Architect: Tezuka Architects

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Warm weather and summer sun are just around the corner, and we found the perfect home for soaking up some golden rays. Located in Tokyo, this modern dwelling consists of three levels of patios, providing an abundance of exterior spaces to enjoy the summer months and entertain guests outdoors. Wood paneling gives the home a natural feel, while a series of ladders connecting the decks magnify the joy of being outside.

Read more about this project in the Architizer database.

Photos: Katsuhisa Kida

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Project: Pleats M

Architect: Hironaka Ogawa & Associates

Location: Saitama, Japan

Aiming to launch a fresh, distinctive brand for weddings, the client requested a unique architectural aesthetic that could be repeated in future developments. The client also hoped the façade would somehow accentuate the building’s narrow, irregularly shaped site—a location most wedding chapel owners would typically avoid. The resulting white “folds” create a sense of drama while also blocking noise from nearby traffic.

Read more about this project in the Architizer database.

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Two years ago, the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami swept across the country’s coast wreaking untold amounts of damage. One of the quake’s victims was an old forest in Rikuzentakata, Iwate, which was obliterated by severe ground tremors and the crashing sea waves that followed. Of the 70,000 timbers that were felled, a sole tree survived. The ”miracle pine,” as it’s called by locals, withstood one of the greatest natural disasters recorded, only to perish in September 2012 after it succumbed to toxic levels of saline that had been deposited by flooding.

Now, a sculpture commemorating the miraculous 88-foot-tall tree is set to open in an event that will mark the second anniversary of the disaster. Continue.

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