Architect
Jin
Jin
Watanabe
渡辺仁
Landmarks for cities rising again after the earthquake.
The architect of Wako (the former Hattori building) in Ginza, Tokyo, and of the main building of Hotel New Grand in Yokohama. After the Great Kanto Earthquake he designed buildings that became landmarks in both cities.
- Hotels
- 1hotels
- Regions
- 1regions
- Works
- 2works
- Techniques
Works.
Selected works, and where you can stay- 1927 Hotel New Grand Yokohama, Kanagawa Stay
- 1932 Wako (former Hattori building) Ginza, Tokyo
Hotels.
Jin Watanabe — hotels
Columns.
Read about the techniques
i.Seismic retrofitStronger, without changing a thing: how seismic retrofitting worksYou can stay in an old hotel because the building has been prepared for today’s earthquakes. How have the standards changed, and how are buildings strengthened? Braces, shear walls, wrapped columns, base isolation, and the hard choice faced by historic buildings: to become stronger while changing nothing you can see.
ii.Plaster ornamentWhite that comes from stone, and returns to it: lime plaster and decorative ceilingsLime plaster is made by mixing burnt lime with water and letting it harden by drawing carbon dioxide from the air. A plastered wall, in other words, slowly turns back into the substance of stone. From the plasterer’s trowel to the gypsum reliefs of Western-style ceilings and the modern work that keeps those ceilings safe in an earthquake, we read what lies behind the white surface.