Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower (モード学園コクーンタワー) is a 204 m, 50-story educational facility located in the Nishi-Shinjuku district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.[1]
The building was designed by a team led by Paul Noritaka Tange, the son of Kenzo Tange.[2] The building is home to three educational institutions: Tokyo Mode Gakuen (fashion vocational school), HAL Tokyo (special technology and design college), and Shuto Ikō (medical college). Completed in October 2008, the tower is the second-tallest educational building in the world and was the 17th-tallest building in Tokyo. It was awarded the 2008 Skyscraper of the Year by Emporis.
Design
Mode Gakuen invited architects to compete to build its new Tokyo location, stipulating that the building could not be rectangular. About 50 architects submitted more than 150 proposals. The winner had a curved shell of white aluminum and dark blue glass, criss-crossed by a web of white diagonal lines. The architects, Tange Associates, said its cocoon-like shape symbolizes nurturing the students inside;[3]