At Palaceside Building, various works are under way from the first floor to the second basement.
First, the marble-floor renovation in the east main-entrance hall previewed in this blog on October 13. Concretely, polishing. The east side (photo above, left) is done; the west (same, right) is still to come. You can see how the left gleams,
can’t you? Like a mirror! The hall’s left and right walls are being polished too.
Renovation of the first-floor concourse (the shopping street’s main passage), begun in November 2016 and reported here on December 20, has also advanced quite a bit in nearly a month. Work proceeds west to east in zones and has reached the wide area with the reception desk and ATMs up from the east main entrance (photo at right): the near side finished, the far side still in progress. When done, it will match the first-basement concourse in the same design.
Speaking of floors, the passage from the subway gates on the second-basement west to the elevator hall is also quite worn and will be neatly relaid.
More than 20,000 people enter and leave Palaceside Building every day (40,000–50,000 counting in and out). The floor surface is scored with countless scratches, and there were cracks and breaks here and there, so we decided on a fundamental renovation.
After these three floor jobs, please lift your gaze a little. First, the rain canopy just outside the east entrance
is being renovated. Rust had become conspicuous, so it will be repainted. The transparent acrylic roof is off now, and you can see the blue sky and the building’s windows cleanly (photo at left). We apologize for the inconvenience; please take care not to get wet in the rain.
The large canopy at the west entrance, nicknamed the “umbrella,” is also scheduled for renovation from next week. The 16-meter-diameter canopy has not changed since the building opened 50 years ago. Metal, supported like an umbrella by rods of various sizes and also hung from above, it weighs some 15 tons. It will be dismantled, checked and repaired, then reassembled — a major job. Passage will be restricted during the work.
Both east and west canopies have stood years of weather. We have patched and refurbished them now and then, but that is near its limit, so we decided on a thorough renovation.
All of the above should finish by March at the latest. Work will center on nights and weekends so as not to hinder passage. Even so there will be some restrictions; from the new fiscal year things will be reborn clean, so please understand.