is a prestigious shopping centre near the Murasaki river and Kokura Castle

Kokura Castle

in Kitakyushu, Japan was built by Hosokawa Tadaoki in 1602. It was the property of the Ogasawara clan between 1632 and 1860. The castle was burnt down in 1865 in the war between the Kokura and Chōshū clans....

 in Kokura Kita ward, Kitakyushu, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It was opened as part of the Kitakyushu Renaissance policy on April 19, 2003 and includes theatres, restaurants, a multiplex cinema, NHK

NHK

NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

 studios, the head offices of Zenrin

Zenrin

Zenrin Co. Ltd. is a Japanese map publisher. Founded in 1948, the company is known as a maker of residential maps and software used in personal computers and Automotive navigation systems...

 Co. and the Asahi Shinbun (West area) and a branch of the Kitakyushu city art museum.

Design

The design is composed of five contrasting geometrical shapes in five different colours (yellow, red, white, brown and black). The purpose is to break up the massive complex into acceptable proportions.

Map Museum

On the 14th floor of the black building is the Zenrin map museum, entrance fee 100 yen, open on weekdays only, 10.00-17.00.

Second stage

The next stage is the construction of the new 11-story Kokura campus of Nishi Nihon Institute of Technology which will contain the design faculty, and a 4-story Toyota Lexus

Lexus

is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States, Lexus is now sold globally and has become Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. The Lexus marque is marketed in over 70 countries and territories worldwide, and has...

 showroom.

See also

• Kokura prefectural office
• Canal City in Fukuoka city, designed by the same team
• Milwaukee Riverwalk
  Milwaukee Riverwalk
  The Milwaukee Riverwalk is a continuous pedestrian walkway along the Milwaukee River in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin.- Description :Conceived in the 1990s to increase public access to the waterway, the Milwaukee Riverwalk has grown to include art displays called RiverSculpture!, the RiverSplash!...
  
  in the United States

External sources

Riverwalk on Nihon Sekkei website Riverwalk on the Jerde Partnership website Riverwalk Kitakyushu official page