2Ｆ3Ｆ4Ｆ Isetan Shinjuku Main Store

Japan Commercial Environmental Design Association (JCD) Review

Department stores all over the world have been placed in a difficult position by Internet society and IT technologies. Mechanisms of distribution and prices have become global, giving rise to Amazon and Uniqlo. However, there exists a rare department store that has managed to overthrow these mechanisms, priding itself with the world’s top revenue. This department store is Isentan in Shinjuku. It is an uber-department store akin to a theater of consumption. Yasumichi Morita designed its sales floor space. Japanese interior design is simple and refined; however, the design of Morita’s Isetan is precisely the opposite. The internal space of the store is deluged with baroque-like overabundance. As such, it emerges as a manifestation of the trickster power that brings an impetus to those design circles in Japan prone to lifelessness.

Interior design (2F3F4F renewal) :
TANGE ASSOCIATES / Noritaka TANGE, GLAMOROUS co.,ltd. / Yasumichi MORITA