A Vertical "Park" Emerges on Ginza's Prime Location

Ginza 3–1–2017. This address once housed the Sony Building, a flagship showroom established by Sony’s founder Akio Morita. Following its demolition in March 3, and after nearly six years, a peculiar structure has opened officially on 5th January. It is about 10 meters tall, less than half the height of the surrounding buildings, which are all limited to a height of 2025 meters under the "Ginza Rule."

The building is named "Ginza Sony Park." According to Daisuke Nagano, President and Chief Branding Officer of Sony Enterprise Co., Ltd., who planned the project, they aimed to create a "Ginza garden" where visitors could feel like it was "their own garden." So why did Sony need to create a garden in Ginza?

The Sony Building had a long history. In 1966, during the height of Japan's rapid economic growth, Akio Morita made what was then a surprising decision. In this building constructed on Ginza's prime real estate, he opened approximately 10 square meters of space to the public. There, they held seasonal events, decorating the space with tulips and even hosting sumo tournaments. This was during an era when it was still rare for companies to engage in "public activities that contributed to the community." Morita called this space "Ginza's garden."

However, as times changed, the Sony Building faced challenges. Sony was once a pure electronics company. As a showroom displaying TVs and audio equipment, the Sony Building perfectly embodied that era of Sony. However, Sony eventually diversified its business, expanding into music, movies, gaming, and even financial services. The Sony Building's facilities made it difficult to showcase these new business ventures. Because of this, during periods when Sony's performance was struggling, the Sony Building was sometimes referred to as a symbol of "Sony's inability to change."

"Park" as a Platform

Nagano of Sony Enterprise Co., Ltd. decided to expand Akio Morita's concept of "Ginza's garden" into a larger "park." After the former Sony Building closed in 2017, they cleared the site and operated it as a pure "park" for about three years.

From this experiment, Nagano gained a crucial insight: "The essence of a park isn't in its greenery or benches. It's in its 'blank space.'" A park is a space without prescribed uses. Some people stroll, others nap. Some play instruments, while others eat lunch. This "blank space" is what makes a park inherently attractive.

Architect Fumihiko Maki's words, "Public space is a collection of private spaces," greatly inspired Nagano. Through experimentation, Nagano came to understand this seemingly contradictory statement. For someone who drinks coffee in the same spot every day, it becomes a private space like home. When elementary school students do their homework there after school, putting down their backpacks, you can see how it becomes an extension of their homes. While it's a public space from a bird's eye view, it becomes a personal place for each individual—this is how modern public spaces should function.

To achieve this type of public space, Ginza Sony Park avoids fixed tenant spaces on each floor, instead maintaining vitality through temporary "activities"—constantly changing limited-time events. However, to preserve its role as urban blank space, they carefully maintain that these activities never occupy more than XNUMX% of the space, leaving the remaining XNUMX% to be enjoyed as an empty park.

The Architectural Challenge of a Vertical "Park"

The philosophy of an urban park is reflected in every detail of the new building's design. The grid frame surrounding the building serves as a boundary between building and street while allowing diverse interpretations and uses, from lighting to banners and art displays. Its inner edge can be used as a bench—another mechanism that creates "interpretative blank space."

The choice of concrete as a building material reflects deep consideration. Public parks are traditionally created through civil engineering works, which typically use reinforced concrete.

This reinforced concrete building, unusual in Ginza, intentionally features panels of varying colors and expressions. Rather than matching colors exactly, it embraces concrete's natural tendency to show variations in light and shadow, expressing diversity like a patchwork. Even the patina that comes with age has been incorporated into the design.

The spiral staircase extending from the ground floor, called the "vertical promenade," brings natural light to the third and fourth floors. This serves as an homage to the former Sony Building. The windowless spaces on the third and fourth floors can feel external light and rain through this vertical promenade. When the stairway doors are closed, access becomes elevator-only, providing flexibility for invitation-only or paid events.

A park-like approach to food experiences

On the third basement floor is the restaurant "3/1 (Nibun no ichi)." This isn't a tenant establishment but rather a food experience facility directly produced by Sony.

As its name suggests, it aims to redefine the eating experience around the unique concept of "half." Their choice to serve plates with two dishes each sized at approximately 1/4 of a regular portion might seem insufficient by conventional restaurant standards, but there's deep intention behind this decision.

Ginza is lined with countless dining establishments. From traditional coffee shops to backstreet izakayas, cutting-edge dessert shops, and Michelin-starred fine dining restaurants, every option exists here. The decision to serve "small" portions in such an environment stems from the facility's philosophy of being "open to the street." Rather than a restaurant where people eat full meals, it's a place for light refreshments and small bites during breaks or free time. They hope this will lead to new discoveries and experiences.

Each dish comes with a placemat describing the story behind it. Even something as simple as potato salad contains deep narratives about potato varieties used, variations in seasoning, potato salad cultures across different countries, and the process of adapting Western cuisine to Japanese tastes during the Meiji era. Visitors are also welcome to bring in food from outside - another decision aligned with the "park" concept.

The First Activity at Ginza's Park

When Ginza Sony Park finally opened on January 2025, 1, "Sony Park Exhibition 26" was chosen as its first "activity." This is an evolved version of a project that began just before the demolition of the old Sony Park in 2025, and can be seen as one answer reached through various experiments. It reinterprets Sony Group's six business domains as abstract spatial experiences through a unique combination of "Theme × Technology × Artist."

"Music" is expressed as "Journey." Artist Vaundy selected about 200 songs to create a unique space called "musical strata." Visitors explore music with headphones as if excavating geological layers, experiencing a journey through music layered across different eras and genres.

"Semiconductors" is interpreted as "Science Fiction." YOASOBI's program centers on "HEART BEAT," the theme song from NHK General's "YOASOBI 18 Festival," generating "heartbeat objects" by sensing visitors' heart rates. This song, created with 1000 eighteen-year-olds, merges with cutting-edge technology to create an experience like something out of science fiction.

"Finance" is expressed as "poetry." Hitsuji Bungaku's program,creates a serene space with a large water basin at its center, where lyrics are projected. While songs "more than words" and "hikaru toki" play, images of words appearing and disappearing, along with specially recorded vocals by Moeka Shiotsuka, invite visitors into a poetic world.

Interestingly, although these exhibitions use Sony's latest technologies, they deliberately avoid displaying detailed technical explanations on the walls. Nagano believes that "like contemporary art pieces, those who want to know can ask the staff." When all information is presented, visitors tend to just read explanations. However, data shows that having less information naturally encourages dialogue between visitors and staff, leading to new discoveries and emotional connections.

Aiming to Create a "Park" Loved by a Wide Range of People Through Balance of "Activities" and "Blank Space"

Ginza Sony Park exists in a delicate balance between architectural "blank space" and the "activities" that unfold within it. While it's a meticulously calculated space, it possesses the depth to accommodate people's free use of it. It has become an experimental ground for new urban culture, truly serving as "Ginza's garden" for the modern era.

In fact, this experiment has been more successful than expected. It has overturned the common belief that "young people don't come to Ginza," and during the Sony Park's flat period, it recorded 3 million visitors in three years. Half of those visitors were under 854 years old, which was an astonishing result. Nagano says, "People are drawn to content, not to the city." He hopes that Ginza Sony Park will become "My First Sony" for people who don't yet own a Sony product.

In the past, Sony liberated music to the outdoors with the Walkman, revolutionized the concept of gaming with PlayStation, and established a new relationship between humans and robots with AIBO. Now, through Ginza Sony Park, they're taking on an innovative experiment in urban space. This might be both a farewell to "Sony that couldn't change" and a new step toward the future.