The new build project is a mixed use development containing office, retail and residential. The HIKARI project (the word for “light” in Japanese) is composed of three separate buildings above an underground parking that extends across the entire site. This project was designed by the well known Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and Associates, who were chosen after an invited design competition. The building is energy positive (BEPOS), meaning that the building produces more energy than it consumes. In addition to its energy objectives the project has high environmental ambitions that values the comfort and quality of the occupants and minimises the environmental impacts of the project, including during the site phase.
The architect respects the urban design of Herzog and de Meuron that proposed dividing the site into three distinct buildings with urban canyons between them which open on to the inner harbor basin. The environmental design aimed to benefit from natural lighting, taking into account the best orientations and also the nearby nuisances using optimum form-finding processes.

T/E/S/S was in charge of the design and site phase of the retail glazed facades, the wood & aluminium window in double and triple glazing, the glass envelope with integrated PV cells, the stone cladding, composite panels in Trespa® or aluminium. The major technical problem for the project was the design of the details that could perform to the high technical specification as regards thermal, acoustic and air tightness, whilst respecting the the desired architectural appearance. The cladding of the facades uses a large palette of materials which have subtle changes from one floor to another.