Like an expertly crafted Swiss watch, the Nicolas G. Hayek Center is an assemblage of movable pieces that work together with machinelike precision. The product of Japan’s globe-trotting architect Shigeru Ban, the 61,300-square-foot building houses the Swatch Group’s Tokyo headquarters: a combination of corporate offices and individual boutiques for seven of the watchmaker’s leading brands. Though the center’s wavy steel roof is fixed, the facade moves. For years, Ban has been experimenting with operable shutter walls in houses and other modestly scaled projects, but the Hayek Center is his latest and largest installation to date. In addition, eight separate elevators animate its ground-floor public plaza. Even its innovative structural system, fittingly inspired by a grandfather clock, is designed to move.
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