I’m sure everyone has seen that new building they’re building on the west side of Shinjuku. In case you didn’t know, that’s the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower. Mode Gakuen モード学園 is a school for design. What kind of design I’m not sure exactly but from the looks of it they must have a lot of money to be able to build such a building in the middle of Shinjuku. No doubt they’re probably like other trade schools in Japan (called 専門学校 senmon gakko) where the school acts like a quasi-sweatshop, work gets outsourced to the schools which the students do for little to zero pay. The school reaps the profits from the work the students are doing AND also collects tuition from them which is usually some ridiculous amount on par with private universities. The students gain experience working on “real work” which can help them get started professional once they graduate. So it’s kind of a win-win situation. As for the building, well I think on paper these kinds of designs seem kind of cool but design tastes change quickly and this building already looks dated to me.
whoopee ~ another new monolith to check-out on my next trip to Tokyo !
last time around : the school supply store for fashion students
at Bunka Gakuen on Western Shinjuku was a joyful experience .
I understand that the design is supposed to be based upon a grain of rice.
Are you sure about that? Wouldn’t they call it the “Rice” tower instead of the “Cocoon” tower. It looks more like a silk worm cocoon than a grain of rice to me.
I just got back from two weeks in Nagoya and one of the highlights of my trip was seeing the new Spiral Tower in the final stages of completion. Also a senmon gakko for design students, it made the other skyscrapers in the area look quite dull.
Chris