Modis Design uses archival research and detailed CG reconstruction to tell the story of SOMPO’s iconic headquarters
Corporate Communications Digital Content Video Production
Industry
insurance
Duration
2 months
SOMPO Holdings is one of Japan’s major insurance and financial services groups. Its distinctive headquarters in Nishi-Shinjuku has been part of the Tokyo skyline since 1976, when it opened as the headquarters of Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance.
With its unusual flared silhouette inspired by the stone walls of Japanese castles, the building was designed to be more than an architectural landmark. Safety and disaster preparedness were central to the original concept, while advanced building management systems, employee facilities and a museum on the 42nd floor made it remarkably forward-looking for its time.
As the building approached its 50th anniversary, SOMPO wanted to tell its story in a way that could capture both its history and its continuing place in Shinjuku.
The challenge was that much of that story could no longer be filmed. The Nishi-Shinjuku of the 1970s had disappeared, the original museum had moved and many of the building’s most interesting features were hidden within its architecture.
Modis Design was asked to bring that history back to life through CG, combining archival research, original architectural materials and visual storytelling to recreate the building across five decades.
We started by going back to 1970s Shinjuku.
Using historic photographs sourced online and through Shinjuku City archives, we researched the streets, buildings and changing skyline surrounding the construction site. These references gave our CG team the material needed to reconstruct the neighborhood and place the new tower within the city that existed around it.
The client also provided original architectural materials, including detailed records of the building’s development. These revealed just how much thought had gone into safety and building management. The building incorporated compartmentalized fire zones, dedicated evacuation routes, emergency power systems and a centralized Disaster Control Center. Its computer-controlled building management system was also unusually advanced for the period.
We used these details to make the animation about more than the building’s exterior. As the CG structure takes shape, viewers also discover some of the ideas and engineering behind it.
One of the most interesting challenges was reconstructing the art museum that originally occupied the 42nd floor.
The museum was an important part of the building’s identity from the beginning, reflecting an ambition to make the headquarters a cultural presence in Shinjuku as well as a place of business.Using historical references, we recreated the original gallery environment in CG.
The client provided photographs of artworks displayed there at the time, which we used to create digital representations of the pieces and return them to the reconstructed space.
Rather than simply describing this part of the building’s history, the video could take viewers inside a place that no longer exists.
For the final sequence, we moved from archival material to contemporary references.
Using current imagery and mapping references, we recreated the SOMPO headquarters as it appears today, together with the SOMPO Museum of Art that now stands alongside it. The transition connects the building’s original 42nd-floor museum with its continuing cultural legacy today.
It also completes the larger visual journey: from an emerging Nishi-Shinjuku in the 1970s, through the construction and inner workings of a new skyscraper, to a building that has now watched the district grow around it for half a century.
The finished video brings 50 years of history together in a way that conventional filming could not. Archival photographs, architectural records and detailed research became the foundation for a realistic CG journey through the building’s construction, engineering, cultural history and place in Shinjuku today.
The video was published through SOMPO’s YouTube channel and received an especially positive response within the organization. SOMPO subsequently began showing it across multiple screens in the headquarters lobby, where employees and visitors can experience the history of the building while standing inside it.
That feels like an especially fitting final chapter for the project: a digital reconstruction of the building’s past now living within the building itself.
We combine research, storytelling and visual production to bring complex histories and ideas to life.
Contact us →
