Ginza Ecological Map / Hakuten Corporation

Ginza Ecological Map / Hakuten Corporation

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Text description provided by the architects. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided us with more opportunities to deeply reflect upon the global environment and human-nature relationship. As we strive for a more sustainable society, it is essential to present Shiseido’s unique approach of “beauty” to the community. Spring 2020,COVID-19 has emptied the streets of Ginza, one of Japan’s largest commercial cities and the birthplace of Shiseido.

We looked closely at the strangely empty city, and noticed that even in Ginza, a metropolis far removed from nature, there was a beautiful “ecology” with brightly colored roadside trees and birds. We saw this “ecology”, which is a trivial local resource in daily life, as a previously unseen beauty of the city, and believed that communicating this beauty to society would provide hints for the relationship between people and nature, and for a more sustainable society.

We created a three-dimensional map of Ginza for our window display, and carefully exhibited the ecology found in the district via actual fieldwork and conversations with local residents. We care­fully displayed this ecology in the window as if they were scientific specimens. The exhibition ran throughout the year across two different ecological themes – “Organisms” and “Earth” – and brought to light a new and beautiful Ginza that had not been seen before in the form of the “Ginza Ecology Map.”