Designs for The Wall, Tokyo. Elevation and perspective view from above.
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Not on view at present
Where is “Designs for The Wall, Tokyo. Elevation and perspective view from above.” now? Collection: Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Not on view at present. Checked September 25, 2026.
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Nigel Coates is a British architect trained in the University of Nottingham and Architectural Association in London. In 1985, Coates began receiving commissions from Japan and founded Branson Coates Architecture with Doug Branson. Branson Coates was commissioned to design The Wall (1990), a restaurant, bar, and retail complex in the Nishi-Azabu section of Tokyo. The brief was to design a building 'that looked as though it had been there forever, yet signified the 21st century'. Their response was to imagine the arrival of ancient Romans to Tokyo, and that the wall was a remaining fragment of that period. The solution was to 'give the impression of being endlessly adapted and reused, hence windows appeared to have been blocked and moved, and a spiral staircase stitched through the facade'.
Read on
The working spaces are on floors cantilevered from the rear of the wall and the basement and ground floors contain a club and 24-hour cafe. The top floor houses a restaurant. The brickwork was tied in every two courses into the framework as a safeguard against earthquakes.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Details
- Accession number
- E.304-1994
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
