Since 1967, the architects Maki and Associates have realized seven projects in Kyu-Yamate Avenue in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. The latest scheme, Hillside West, is a complex combining commercial facilities, offices and housing. It is one of a series of designs that pursue the theme of creating an informal realm within an urban setting. The Hillside West site lies between two roads: Kyu-Yamate Avenue at the front and a quiet residential street to the rear, which is 5.50 metres below the level of the avenue. The complex is articulated into three main volumes, each with its own specific character and each adopting the height of the neighbouring developments. The facades consist of various materials, and the rear space between the individual tracts has been laid out as a small garden which forms a transition between the courtyard areas at the centre of the complex and the residential street. Here, in one of the lower-rise buildings, Maki has his own two-storey office.