Section 1. Expanding the Building Management Business

The decision was made to commission Murano & Mori Architects to design and supervise the project, with construction to be done by Kajima Corporation. Several community meetings were held to show local residents the design. The negotiations were difficult, as community residents demanded ensuring sunlight rights, consideration for wind damage, resolution of problems caused by air conditioning, waste and sewage disposal, and consideration for the appearance of the townscape. After sincere explanations were provided, an agreement was reached with the head of the Kojimachi 5-chome neighborhood association on January 17, 1975, and plans to begin construction were put into place. Construction of the Kojimachi Daibiru Building started on April 3 of that year and was completed on September 21, 1976.

The structure used steel-frame construction with some steel-frame reinforced concrete portions. It had seven aboveground floors, two underground floors, and one penthouse floor. The building was shallow in depth with a wide frontage due to the shape of the property, the floor-area ratio, the diagonal restrictions from the front road, and other factors, so a flexible structure was adopted in consideration of earthquake resistance. The exterior consisted of precast concrete (PC) panels light beige in color with deep carvings that emphasized the building’s elegant appearance reminiscent of a Western European church when viewed from the front. The interior was decorated with great care, with particular emphasis placed on harmonizing it with the surrounding landscape. A large ginkgo tree believed to be over 100 years old that stood to the right of the main entrance was left in place, and a tree garden was created in the large open space.

The Kojimachi Daibiru Building was our first single-tenant building, with the entire building being rented out to a single company. The tenant was a clothing manufacturer, Tokyo Style Co., Ltd. (now TSI Holdings Co., Ltd. ).