{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O219035"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O219035/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EM4860/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EM4860/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EM4860","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O219035","accessionNumber":"E.300-1994","objectType":"Design","titles":[{"title":"Design for the Tower and the Wall, Tokyo","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Nigel Coates is a British architect trained in the University of Nottingham and Architectural Association in London. In 1985, Coates began receiving commissions from Japan and founded Branson Coates Architecture with Doug Branson. Branson Coates was commissioned to design The Wall (1990), a restaurant, bar, and retail complex in the Nishi-Azabu section of Tokyo. The brief was to design a building 'that looked as though it had been there forever, yet signified the 21st century'. Their response was to imagine the arrival of ancient Romans to Tokyo, and that the wall was a remaining fragment of that period. The solution was to 'give the impression of being endlessly adapted and reused, hence windows appeared to have been blocked and moved, and a spiral staircase stitched through the facade'. \n\nThe working spaces are on floors cantilevered from the rear of the wall and the  basement and ground floors contain a club and 24-hour cafe. The top floor houses a restaurant. The brickwork was tied in every two courses into the framework as a safeguard against earthquakes. ","physicalDescription":"Pencil drawing depicting a perspective view of the elevation of the Tower and the Wall, nishi azabu, Tokyo. Signed with monogram, dated in pencil and inscribed with title.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Nigel Coates","id":"A9824"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pencil drawing","categories":[{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"},{"text":"Topography","id":"THES252988"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2010EM4860"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"MD","shelf":"13","box":"A"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"design","id":"AAT102051"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1990","earliest":"1990-01-01","latest":"1990-12-31"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Gift of the architect","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"42","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"29.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from <u>Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1994</u>","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Signed in pencil 'NC 90'. Inscribed 'The Tower and the Wall, nishi azabu, Tokyo.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Sketch by Nigel Coates, design for The Wall and The Tower, Tokyo, pencil drawing, Great Britain, 1990","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Rick Poyner and Nigel Coates, 'The City in Motion', 1989"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1994</u>"}],"production":"Series Date: 1988-1991","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Tokyo (city)","id":"x32430"},{"text":"Japan","id":"x29399"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"elevation","id":"AAT34065"},{"text":"buildings","id":"AAT4792"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.300-1994"],"accessionNumberNum":"300","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1994,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-09-05","recordCreationDate":"2009-04-03","availableToBook":false}}