BIG unveiled its latest intervention, the Toyota Woven City, the company's first venture in Japan. Nestled at the foothills of Mt. Fuji, the project, in collaboration with Toyota Motor Corporation, is the world’s first urban incubator pushing forward the development and progress of mobility.
Situated in a former factory site in the city of Susono in Shizuoka, the Toyota Woven City is conceived as “a living laboratory to test and improve mobility, autonomy, connectivity, hydrogen-powered infrastructure, and industry collaboration”. Imagined as a future and advanced 175-acre cluster, “enabled by technology yet grounded in history and nature”, the project will generate a close community of people, grouped in a particular setting. Aiming towards achieving a carbon-neutral society, the intervention proposes a connected city, with a newfound balance between vehicles, alternate forms of movement, people and nature.
Using solar energy, geothermal energy, and hydrogen fuel cell technology, the city, planned to be built as of the beginning of 2021, puts in place a “flexible network of streets dedicated to various speeds of mobility for safer, pedestrian-friendly connections”. In fact, the traditional system of a road is broken, dividing the public realm into 3 entities, a primary street for faster autonomous vehicles, the recreational promenade occupied by micro-mobility types, and finally the linear park, dedicated for people and nature. This approach is integrated or “woven” into 3×3 city blocks, “each framing a courtyard accessible only via the promenade or linear park”, and expanding in size relatively to the program it will host.
The infrastructure of the city lies underground, out of sight. It includes amenities like hydrogen power, stormwater filtration and “matternet”, a goods delivery network. On another hand, the built environment, a mass timber construction, will be made out of carbon-sequestering wood with photovoltaic panels installed on the roofs. Holding a mix of housing, retail, and business, the structures combine traditional craftsmanship and future sustainable technologies.
Residences in the Woven City will test new technology such as in-home robotics to assist with daily living. These smart homes take advantage of full connectivity using sensor-based AI technology to perform functions such as automatic grocery deliveries, laundry pick-ups or trash disposal, all while enjoying spectacular views of Mt. Fuji. -- BIG
TOYOTA WOVEN CITY
- Program: Urbanism
- Status: In Progress
- Size in m2: 708200
- Project type: Commission
- Client: Toyota Motor Corporation + Kaleidoscope Creative
- Collaborators: Squint Opera (Animation), Mobility in Chain (Transportation Consultants), Atelier Ten (Sustainability)
- Location Text: Susono, Shizuoka, Japan
Project Team
- Partners-in-Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Leon Rost
- Project Manager: Yu Inamoto
- Project Leader: Giulia Frittoli
- Team: Agla Egilsdottir, Alvaro Velosa, Brian Zhang, John Hein, Joseph Baisch, Mai Lee, Margherita Gistri, Nicolas Lapierre, Peter Sepassi, Raven Xu, Samantha Okolita, Shane Dalke, Thomas McMurtrie, Yi Lun Yang, Nasiq Kahn, Jeffrey Shumaker
