Tokyo IRTBBC
Tokyo IRTBBC responds to Hajime Ishii’s 2011 proposal for a new backup city for Tokyo in the event of a natural disaster. Under Ishii’s ‘NEMIC Initiative’ the project, located in Osaka, would also introduce American style gambling resorts to Japan which are currently illegal.
Our alternative vision for NEMIC is inspired by Japan’s gambling (and religious) culture of ‘tokens’ and the aesthetics of arcade ‘Medal Games.’ Gamifying the urban realm itself, a series of ‘medals’ would be designed as mixed use structures encapsulating the mania of Tokyo, using symbolic gestures as an economic generator for new types of space.