Reclaiming Osaka: Urban Renewal at its Best

Project: Namba Park
Location: Osaka, Japan
Architect: The Jerde Partnership
Built: 2003

Formerly a baseball stadium (abandoned in 2003), the Namba Parks project is yet another striking example of Japanese innovation at it's best. Being located at Namba Train Station, in a busy commercial area, NER finally decided to convert the stadium area into an amazing rising public garden complex - a natural intervention in Namba’s dense and harsh urban condition.Within the park lie an array of towers, a commercial center, as well as gardens, trees and waterfalls. The sloping park connects with the street, giving cars and passers-by comfortable access to the complex. Below the park there are also various restaurants, as well as a shopping mall with eight floors of gardens.

Another ingenious project: Gate Tower Building, also in Osaka, intersected by the Hanshin Expressway. So clever, those Japanese.