新ソニービル完成　「公園」イメージ、来年１月開業―東京・銀座

　ソニーグループは８月、東京・銀座の数寄屋橋交差点のシンボルだった複合商業施設「ソニービル」の建て替え工事を終え、新たに「Ｇｉｎｚａ　Ｓｏｎｙ　Ｐａｒｋ（銀座ソニーパーク）」を完成させた。扉や壁をなるべく設けず、公園のように気軽に出入りできる設計で、各フロアをアートや音楽のイベント向けに貸し出す。２０２５年１月開業予定。
　地上５階、地下４階建てで、高さは約３４メートルと周辺ビルの高さの半分程度。打ち放しのコンクリート建築で屋外との一体感を演出した。テナントは入れず、「ＳＯＮＹ」のロゴも控えめだ。
　ソニービルは１９６６年に開館。創業者の一人の故盛田昭夫氏の発案で、ソニー商品のショールームだった。交差点に面する１０坪をあえて空き地にし、「銀座の庭」（盛田氏）としてイベントスペースにしていた。
　ビルの解体中、２０２１年９月までの３年間は公園として開放し、８５４万人が来園。ソニーグループ担当者は「庭の思想を公園に発展させ、街に開かれた施設になることを目指す。多くの人に訪れてほしい」と話している。（2024/08/31-04:53）

Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Sony Group Corp. completed its new building in Tokyo's posh Ginza district in August, expecting the structure, standing at a corner facing the famous Sukiyabashi crossing, to be a new symbol of the area.
   The new Ginza Sony Park, which replaced the previous Sony-owned commercial complex located at the same site, is designed to allow people to feel free to enter and exit, like a park, having a limited number of doors and walls. Each floor of the building is planned to be rented for art and music events. It is scheduled to open in January 2025.
   The building, with five stories above ground and four below, is roughly 34 meters tall, about half the heights of other buildings nearby.
   Its bare concrete appearance is aimed at creating a harmony with the environment surrounding it. The building has no tenants, and the SONY logo on its external wall is modestly shown.
   The original Sony Building, a brainchild of Sony co-founder Akio Morita, opened in 1966 and was used as a showroom for the company's products. A space of some 33 square meters at the corner of the Sukiyabashi crossing, called "the Garden of Ginza" by Morita, had been left vacant as a public space so that it could be used for various events.