Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower

Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower is a 204-metre, 50-storey school building in the Nishi-Shinjuku district of Tokyo, Japan. It was finished in October 2008 and holds three schools: Tokyo Mode Gakuen, a fashion school, HAL Tokyo, a technology and design college, and Shuto Iko, a medical college.

Its curved body looks like a cocoon, a silky case in which a caterpillar changes into a moth. A skin of white aluminium and dark blue glass is crossed by a web of white diagonal lines. The architects, Tange Associates, said the cocoon shape stands for nurturing the students inside. The tower was the second tallest educational building in the world, after the main building of Moscow State University, and it won the 2008 Skyscraper of the Year award from Emporis.

How was the shape chosen?

The school invited architects to compete, with one rule: the building could not be a rectangle. About 50 architects sent more than 150 proposals. The winning design came from a team led by Paul Noritaka Tange, the son of the famous architect Kenzo Tange. The designers also wanted the tower to bring new life to the surrounding area and to act as a gateway between Shinjuku Station and the central business district.

When was it built?

Construction began in May 2006, on the former site of the Asahi Life headquarters, which had been torn down. It was completed in October 2008 and, at the time, was the 17th tallest building in Tokyo. Inside, students study fashion, technology, design and medicine, which makes it a school that is also a landmark. The tower was also described as one of the tallest school buildings anywhere.

On the globe

The model shows a dark-blue glass tower wrapped in a white diagonal lattice, like a cocoon. Look at the white web of lines on the curved body.