Kengo Kuma and Associates has unveiled plans for a new biophilia-laden office complex in downtown San Jose, California.

Under the monicker “Park Habitat,” the massive new 1.3-million-square-foot development offers 20 stories of office and retail spaces which are beset by a network of internal and external parks and gardens.

In a new manifesto published by the group Westbank Campus, the international development group’s founder Ian Gillespie outlined his reasoning for choosing the influential Japanese architect for a design whose scope purportedly entails a focus on user wellness and local environment.

“I chose Kengo for a very deliberate reason: Kuma-San has risen to the pinnacle of his profession by blurring the lines between nature and the built environment. His practice is dedicated to making buildings less definitive or solid and more ephemeral. In essence, creating a particular condition more than a particular architecture.”

Gillespie then went on to say: “Other traditions of Japanese design aesthetic, such as layering and the use of natural materials like wood, clearly distinguish this project as the first of a few that we hope will spark a renaissance in Silicon Valley,” before sharing his intents to deliver a net-zero building to one of the most development-hungry metropolitan areas of the country.

The building, which is part of Westbank’s larger Master Vision for the area that also includes buildings designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, Studio Gang, James K.M. Cheng Architects, and WRNS Studio, comes complete with a rooftop park and “living facade” that features a variety of plant species and other “arboreal references.” 

Per Westbank: “The facade features extensive vertical vegetation as well as sun-shading louvers. The plantings include vegetated walls mounted directly to the curtain wall as well as window box-style planters with vines on vertical wire trellises. The vegetation in these planters acts as sun shading for the glass behind and is visible to the building occupants as a biophilic amenity for enhanced air quality inside the building.”

Overall, the Park Habitat’s interior layout is defined by modular, office-sized “Pocket Gardens” which combine with the building’s outdoor terraces and biophilic elements to offer what appears to be an immersive nature-inspired user experience all powered by an internal “Green Lung.”

In a letter written by the architect titled “The Future of San Jose is Natural,” Kuma said: “Our opportunity lies in reversal, from office park to 'park office,' putting nature into the building instead of the other way around. Park Habitat consequently becomes nature, merging with its context, and not a separate entity standing behaviorally apart from its environment.”

Construction has already begun and is said to be complete by 2025. More information about the inner workings of the project, including the full text of Kuma’s letter, can be found here. 

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