Resembling a crystal or a child-like representation of a house, the form is an important element of the design, both luring shoppers to its interior and affecting the same interior through its skin. Composed of rhomboid-shape glass panels, the skin wraps in a diagonal pattern that covers each exterior surface equally. Variation in this skin is achieved by selectively locating panels with convex, concave and flat surfaces that affect both the exterior and interior through the reflection and refraction of light. The by-product of the building's form and surface, two conflicting gestures, is a simultaneous sense of the known and the unknown, the old and the new. Herzog & De Meuron developed the form over time after determining the store, which also contains offices, should be vertical, creating a public plaza at grade and giving the building a presence in the Aoyama neighborhood. Prada..................................Tokyo, Japan