World renowned fashion brand Hermès enlisted Renzo Piano to create a building for their Tokyo head office in 1998. To this day the Maison Hermès building remains a show-stopping example of the late 1990s architecture. The building located in the famed Ginza shopping district was completed in 2001. The local regulations have in great part shaped the glass facade building, with the strict local laws regarding earthquake and fire safety.

What makes the building even more impressive is the only 10 meter wide Harumi Avenue front facade, with building going 56 meters long on it’s quite street side. The impressive facade of the Maison Hermès is made out of 13000 square glass blocks while the building corners feature curved glass bricks. The glass blocks were specially commissioned at Vetroarredo in Florence and had to go by the Tokyo fire and earthquake safety regulations.