{"id":120960,"date":"2019-05-17T19:05:35","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T10:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?p=120960&lang=en"},"modified":"2019-06-04T15:33:15","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T06:33:15","slug":"scaling-fukuokas-highest-peak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/scaling-fukuokas-highest-peak\/","title":{"rendered":"Scaling Fukuoka\u2019s Highest Peak"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ACROS building, lovingly known as Mt. ACROS to locals, is one of this city\u2019s greatest, and greenest, landmarks. Towering over Tenjin Chuo Park and the surrounding skyline, ACROS occupies an important part in the consciousness of what residents see when they imagine Fukuoka. Holding great symphonies and international conferences alike, this space dominates the cultural and international life of Fukuoka, as well as the nearby landscape. Seeing as I had never journeyed up the architectural marvel all the way to the top before I decided I would give it a go and pick up my certificate while I was at it.<\/p>\n

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The entrance to the stairway which snakes its way up the garden lies right next to the Chuo Park side entrance of the building, steps away from the cavern-like door. It\u2019s marked by a small red and white sign, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled as it\u2019s quite easy to miss!<\/p>\n

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Designed by world-renowned architect Emilio Ambasz in 1994, the $380 million building is constructed in the style of Ambasz\u2019s maxim \u201cgreen over gray\u201d, and is one of the most important examples of green architecture in the 1990s. As you take the 60 m zig-zagging stairs to the top, you\u2019ll be surrounded by over 35,000 types of vegetation, representing upwards of 76 species. As I climbed higher and higher, I couldn\u2019t help but reflect on the tranquility of the scene, a reminder of the quiet forests not far from where I grew up right in the center of town. This twinning of the urban and the countryside is no mere whimsical dream of an increasingly wheezy climber however. In a 2010 essay entitled \u201cSustainability\u2019s Transubstantiation\u201d, Ambasz writes that the goal of ACROS was to prove that greenery could exist in the city, that through environmentally friendly choices of building materials which promote energy efficiency like earth for insulation, he could give 100% of the land that the building\u2019s footprint covers back to the community [1]. You could have the building and the land it rested on too, the true goal of architecture for the community. <\/p>\n

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I reached the top of the 14-storey step garden and took some time to lick my wounds, those being the numerous bug bites I had acquired on the journey up (bug spray is very much recommended). All in all it is about a five to six-minute walk to the observatory, or if you\u2019re feeling particularly leisurely, a 10-minute stroll. It\u2019s quite a comfortable walk, so those of any age or fitness shouldn\u2019t feel in the least intimidated. In fact, it\u2019s so comfortable that I climbed it twice, having forgotten to take the obligatory summit selfie first time around. Unfortunately, I didn\u2019t get to pick up a certificate for making it to the top, which are given out on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. That being said, even being certificate-less wasn\u2019t too much of a dampener when I took the time to look around at the view.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s rather a strange sensation, sitting on top of a forest five minutes away from Tenjin Station, but that\u2019s the magic of ACROS. It\u2019s a refuge for city workers and tourists alike, catching their breath against the hustle and bustle of the city below. People clad in the black and white of the workplace take five minutes just to relax at the summit, to really see the city that they spend so much of their lives in. Parents and their kids spread out on the cool concrete steps, patting each other on the back and tucking into well deserved snacks. ACROS\u2019s step garden may not rival Yakushima for natural beauty, but it lets us see this city in a new light and for that it\u2019s well worth the trip.<\/p>\n

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\u2022 Open: Mar. ~ Apr. 9:00~18:00, May ~ Aug. 9:00~18:00, Sep. ~ Oct. 9:00~18:00, Nov. ~ Feb. 9:00~17:00 (Certificates issued between 4\/6 to 5\/26 on Sat., Sun. and hol.)
\n\u2022 Closed during inclement weather (*call in advance to confirm)
\n\u2022 Free (*smoking, pets prohibited)
\n\u2022 ACROS Fukuoka
\n\u2022 1-1-1 Tenjin, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka<\/a>
\n\u2022 092-751-8591<\/a>
\n\u2022 https:\/\/www.acros.or.jp\/english\/floor\/stepgarden.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[1] As surmised and presented by Forbes magazine<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Report and Photos by Kenji Newton for Fukuoka Now<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ACROS building, lovingly known as Mt. ACROS to locals, is one of this city\u2019s greatest, and greenest, landmarks. Towering over Tenjin Chuo Park and the surrounding skyline, ACROS occupies an important part in the consciousness of what residents see when they imagine Fukuoka. Holding great symphonies and international conferences alike, this space dominates the cultural and international life of Fukuoka, as well as the nearby…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27918,"featured_media":120974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"120960","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","location-tenjin","en-US"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/acros-climb-may2019-WEB-014.jpg?fit=1400%2C1050&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27918"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120960"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121497,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120960\/revisions\/121497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}