tsukiji market redevelopment

Completed in Tokyo with a team of students from USC and Meiji University during the Asian Architecture, Landscape, and Urbanism study abroad program, this design charrette explored the future of the Tsukiji Market site — a historic and deeply embedded cultural landmark slated for demolition and temporary conversion into a parking facility for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The prompt challenged us to imagine a long‑term urban development for this one‑kilometer by one‑kilometer site once the market was removed.

The project’s formal language emerged from the distinctive curvatures of the original Tsukiji Market. These inherited lines act as traces of what once occupied the site, organizing the new development’s landscape, architectural elements, and circulation. The program includes gallery spaces, a hotel, and a market connected by a boat system to the relocated Tsukiji Market just a few islands to the south. The intention was to preserve the cultural memory of the fish market while allowing the site to evolve into a flexible, publicly oriented urban district.

My contribution focused on the design and layout of the landscape, using the original Tsukiji curve as a generative tool. I developed the axonometric and plan drawings that articulate how these inherited geometries structure movement, open space, and opportunities for future infill.