N Building Façade

The N Building, located in a shopping district near Tokyo’s Tachikawa station, has a uniquely interactive facade. Instead of the signs and billboards that are usually attached to commercial buildings, a large QR code forms the N Building’s skin. The QR code takes passersby to relevant online information about the building, including notices and updates from its retailers and tweets from shoppers. This virtual yet tangible interaction between building and person is a novel, enhanced experience of the physical, in which, as the designers say, “the facade of the building disappears, showing those inside who want to be seen.”