Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower | Tange Associates

Designed by Tange Associates, Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower is located in Tokyo’s distinctive Nishi-Shinjuku high-rise district and contains 3 different schools: Tokyo Mode Gakuen (fashion), HAL Tokyo (IT and digital contents) and Shuto Iko (medical treatments and care). The building’s innovative shape and cutting edge façade embodies our unique “Cocoon” concept. Embraced within this incubating form, students are inspired to create, grow and transform.

photography by © Koji Horiuchi

Unlike a traditional, horizontally laid out school, we have designed a high-rise vertical campus that can hold approximately 10,000 students. We believe that a school structure should be more than just classrooms. It should also incorporate multi-purpose corridors and a schoolyard-like space, or atrium, where communication can flourish naturally. With this in mind, we have designed 3-story high atriums which we call the “Student Lounge”.

photography by © Koji Horiuchi

The tower floor plan is simple. Three rectangular classroom areas rotate 120 degrees around the inner core. From the 1st floor to the 50th floor, these rectangular classroom areas are arranged in a curvilinear form. The inner core consists of an elevator, staircase, and shaft. The Student Lounge is located between the classrooms and faces three directions, east, southwest, and northwest.

photography by © Koji Horiuchi

Cocoon Tower is located directly in front of Shinjuku Station, Tokyo’s busiest train station and in close proximity to the Shinjuku CBD (Central Business District), where the Tokyo City Hall is located. Some of the buildings in the immediate area surrounding Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower have become old and obsolete. However, this area is very important to connect Shinjuku Station and the Shinjuku CBD. Our aim is to use the building to revitalize and reenergize this area and to create a gateway between the Station and the CBD. The Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower combines fresh visual dynamism with a novel school facility and the main hall open to the public.

photography by © Koji Horiuchi

The building’s elliptic form allows generous views and increased ground space at the top and bottom respectively. Greenery planted at the lower levels and unobstructed views of the sky form the upper levels, brings, the nurturing forces of nature close at hand. In total, the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower stands as a powerful learning tool, unparalleled in design, function, and vision.

photography by © Koji Horiuchi

Project Info:
Architects: Tange Associates
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Client: Mode Gakuen
Area: 3541.0 m2
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Koji Horiuchi
Project Name: Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower