Toyota Junction / structural scape design / Japan Highway Public Corporation

Toyota Junction is an interchange of the existing Tomei Highway and the new Daini Tomei Highway. The new highway, which aims to serve the high-mobility society of the 21st century, along with the Tomei Highway, built a quarter of a century ago, as support of industrial foundation and human interchange, shall be a precious social property for the coming generation. On the other hand, viewing from the ground, a group of gigantic structural objects stand to support the road space from wind and weather. Urban scenery formed of architecture and civil engineering is: while architecture may become a laid pattern on the ground, civil engineering structure turns into a trunk root reverting to the ground. The massive structures disfigure the once familiar hometown landscape, but gradually turn to form an urbanized secondary (artificial) landscape. It is once again necessary for both the creator side and receiver side of the landscape to be conscious of the process in making and hold awareness to the own environment.

Like the scenery of the surrounding nature (landscape) changes from season to season, the view of this junction (structural scape) is going to be given large-scale, gentle changes, which bring an attractive new sight to the area with both senses of centripetalism and centrifugal openness. The group of bridge piers gradually change their colors in six hues from the center toward the outside, making the most of the characters of the junction space. The tune of the natural color gradation and the visually-tender quality of the pigment concrete will diminish the massiveness of the giant structure and create a lively harmony.

photo: Kyoji Takahashi

photo: Naoya Hatakeyama