Omotesando Hills (2006-12-28)
Omotesando (
)Hills is a (still sort of) brand new
conceptual shopping complex which stands smack-dab in the middle of the
very posh Omotesando shopping street. I don't even know what the
heck conceptual means, but
when you have one long gray concrete
unpainted structure with a continuous row of glass overlay on the
outside whose design is so often seen with avant-garde artistic
buildings, you've got one concepppptuaaal thing going on there. I
admit I have plebeian
taste. A heathen like me thinks the
building
looks vapid and cold. But what do I know? Oops, no
offense
to designer Tadao Ando. Omotesando Hills was opened for business on Feb 11, 2006. The
over-hyped and much anticipated opening was witnessed by lines of
people
stretching far far away (don't know how far) on its opening day.
KL and I wanted to check out the place and take pictures to report here
but the sheer volume of daily visitors ever since it opened simply kept
us
away. The report I saw a couple of months ago said visitors on
a weekday numbered 40,000 and on weekends 60,000. But we
finally made a trip there and thankfully it wasn't unbearably
crowded.
The interior of the building is basked in an amber lighting with
soft music playing in the background. All the shops and
restaurants are high-end productions. Even a ramen shop in there
has a very swanky look and the prices of its ramen expectedly
reflect that too. There are uniformed guards with ear phones
interspersed uniformly throughout the complex who remind me of security
personel posted outside jewelry shops. Why are there so many of
them? Is the building a prime target for robbers or terrorists?
Omotesando Hills isn't the kind of place I frequent. I don't
refrain from buying expensive clothings, but the kind of hippy chic
merchandise most of the boutiques there carry just isn't me (I'm too
dorky for that). I
can think of people I know who'd love that style of clothing and would
happily pay heaps for it. Omotesando Hills is geared for those
people.
Omotesando Hills Two-minute walk from Omotesando
Subway station A2 Exit on Ginza (
) Line
http://www.omotesandohills.com/eng/
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