Omotesando Hills, designed by Tadao Ando and opened in 2006, replaced the much-loved Dōjunkai Aoyama Apartments — 1920s housing blocks that had become a beloved (if dilapidated) part of the street — and the redevelopment was controversial at the time. The building itself is a showcase of Ando's signature concrete-and-light style: a six-storey atrium built around a long spiral ramp rather than conventional escalators, lit by a glass roof.
It anchors Omotesando, the broad, tree-lined boulevard that runs alongside Takeshita Street and could not be more different in character — international fashion houses and architect-designed flagship stores rather than crepe stands and cosplay shops. Walking from one street to the other captures the range of what "fashion" means in this part of Tokyo.