Hybridizing city and architecture. Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA
26/10/2023.
[Tokyo] Japan
metalocus, CRISTINA RODRÍGUEZ
metalocus, CRISTINA RODRÍGUEZ
Architecture firm OMA/Shohei Shigematsu has completed the Toranomon Hills Station Tower, developed by Mori Building, located in the Toranomon Hills area of central Tokyo, Japan.
The tower is the first building built from scratch by the studio in Tokyo and the largest work built to date. This building is the latest installment of the Mori Building's vision for the Toranomon Hills area and downtown Tokyo as a new global business center.
The Toranomon Hills Station Tower takes an open approach to the connection between the building and the city, creating a tightly woven interface into the immediate urban context.
The tower is the first building built from scratch by the studio in Tokyo and the largest work built to date. This building is the latest installment of the Mori Building's vision for the Toranomon Hills area and downtown Tokyo as a new global business center.
The Toranomon Hills Station Tower takes an open approach to the connection between the building and the city, creating a tightly woven interface into the immediate urban context.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Courtesy of Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Courtesy of Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Courtesy of Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Courtesy of Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Courtesy of Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Courtesy of Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Courtesy of Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Courtesy of Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Courtesy of Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Courtesy of Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Diagram. Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu.
Diagram. Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu.
The Toranomon Hills Station Tower designed by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu has 49 floors of mixed uses. The public area includes direct access to the new Toranomon Hills station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line with a light-filled atrium and shopping area, and a cultural center on top, dreamed up by OMA and Mori Building in collaboration.
The more private area includes a new hotel and leasable office floors located in the middle area of the tower. To reflect its character dedicated to connections, the base of the building was raised, dividing it into two parts on both sides of the avenue, and the two volumes were connected by an elevated pedestrian bridge that continues with the vegetal network of the avenue.
The more private area includes a new hotel and leasable office floors located in the middle area of the tower. To reflect its character dedicated to connections, the base of the building was raised, dividing it into two parts on both sides of the avenue, and the two volumes were connected by an elevated pedestrian bridge that continues with the vegetal network of the avenue.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Project description by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu
Tokyo is a large city that has been cultivating areas with distinct characters. The experience of the city is diverse and dynamic, like an à la carte–style dinner, where people share different dishes and make conversation across the table. But recent large-scale mixed-use developments across the different neighborhoods seem to share an all too similar assembly of programs within an efficient container—a bento box as opposed to à la carte. The bento boxes have been multiplying, and what used to be a very diverse experience within the city is becoming increasingly homogeneous and predictable.
In the proliferation of the bento box, no matter how much architects try to differentiate the character of mixed-use buildings through form and facade, we’re faced with a dilemma: if the ingredients are the same, the experience within the container is inherently the same. How can we design a mixed-use building that embodies the maximum potential of the mix and stimulates an unexpected affair between building and the city?
Our site lies inside Toranomon Hills “Global Business Center,” near Kasumigaseki, Japan’s hub, and adjacent to ARK Hills, a lifestyle and cultural center, and within walking distance from Roppongi Hills “Cultural Heart of Tokyo” and Azabudai Hills “Modern Urban Village”. The tower will stand at the terminus of Shintora-dori Avenue, Tokyo’s newly configured axial thoroughfare connecting Tokyo Bay to the city center. In the vicinity of the site, a series of freestanding mixed-use developments have begun to establish the Toranomon Hills Area as a place to live, work, and play.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
How can we make a tower dedicated to connections—including one that forms a new business network through mixed-use towers and reflects the energy of the surrounding neighborhoods? How can the high-rise integrate public amenities into known office, hotel, and retail programs for an unexpected experience of the mixed-use?
Our approach is a highly public interface to the tower. The core is lifted and split to either side of the tower’s base, opening up the heart of the building and drawing the public inward. The nature and activities of Shintora-dori Avenue extend into and through the tower via the T-DECK, an elevated pedestrian bridge, emphatically linking the area’s towers together to create a network of activities and greenery.
T-DECK sectionally divides the base into two retail zones. The lower zone“the Station Atrium” provides direct access to the new Hibiya Line subway station (Toranomon Hills Station), connecting the tower to the greater region. Within, a grand atrium and subway station concourse flooded with natural light, the first of its kind in Tokyo, provides an exciting sense of arrival.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. Photograph by Tomoyuki Kusunose.
The public activity at the base extends vertically to form a central band of special areas for tenants throughout the tower. The building is shaped to reveal the band from multiple vantage points, making it visible from anywhere in Tokyo. Two slabs sandwiching the central band are formed in inverted symmetry. The north slab begins wide at the base and narrows as it reaches the top in deference to the Imperial Palace. The south slab is narrowest at its base and widens as it rises, maximizing views of the Roppongi Hills skyline and Tokyo Tower.
In balance with the highly public base, we capped the tower with an additional public amenity. “TOKYO NODE” is a new type of program we devised in collaboration with Mori Building—an interactive communication facility, hybrid of flexible event space and innovative forum. It anchors the tower as a global business center that engages the innovative and creative networks and disseminating new values and experiences in the area and beyond. On the roof, a landscaped terrace provides a lush garden with an infinity pool and a flexible event space accommodates private or public gatherings.
By inserting highly public and dynamic environments at the base and at the top, the experience both within and around the tower is made less predictable, unboxing the bento box and remixing the mixed-use.
More information
Architects
OMA New York. Partner-in-Charge.- Shohei Shigematsu.
Associates.- Takeshi Mitsuda, Jake Sadler-Foster, Luke Willis.
Associates.- Takeshi Mitsuda, Jake Sadler-Foster, Luke Willis.
Project team
Yuzaburo Tanaka, Sumit Sahdev, Yoshiki Matsuda, Anahita Tabrizi, Sergio Zapata, Timothy Tse, Yusef Ali Dennis, Stavros Voskaris, Tommaso Bernabo Silorata, Jackie Woon Bae, Eduardo Tazon Maigre, Tristan Zelic, Noam Dvir, Remy Bertin, Juan Pablo Zepeda, Mitchell Lorberau, Alan Song, Sukjoo Hong, Ken Chongsuwat, Caroline Corbett, Ninoslav Krgovic, Natasha Trice, Toru Okada, Timothy Ho, Andrea Zalewski, Alyssa Murasaki Saltzgaber, Chong Ying Pai, Minkoo Kang, Joanne Chen, Jeremy Kim, Daeho Lee, Mattia Alfieri, Tetsuo Kobayashi, Assaf Kimmel, Aishwarya Keshav, Danni Zhang, Yuriko Tanabe, Taro Kagami, Tomotsugu Ishida, Bom Chinburi, Jade Kwong, Phillip Denny, Miguel Darcy, Eugenia Bevz, Shary Tawil, Wesley Ho, Nicholas Solakian, Carly Dean, Elly Cho, Tamara Jamil, Matthew Davis, Darby Foreman.
Collaborators
Executive Architect.- Mori Building Co., Ltd., Kume Sekkei.
Structure.- Kume Sekkei.
Structure (Competition).- Arup.
MEP/FP.- Kume Sekkei.
Façade.- Kume Sekkei, Arup Japan.
T-Deck.- NEY & Partners.
Interior Lighting.- Arc Light Design.
Exterior Lighting.- L'Observatoire International.
Architectural Model.- Vincent de Rijk.
Structure.- Kume Sekkei.
Structure (Competition).- Arup.
MEP/FP.- Kume Sekkei.
Façade.- Kume Sekkei, Arup Japan.
T-Deck.- NEY & Partners.
Interior Lighting.- Arc Light Design.
Exterior Lighting.- L'Observatoire International.
Architectural Model.- Vincent de Rijk.
Contractor
Kajima Corporation.
Client
Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Area
Station Tower Total Area.- 236,640 sqm.
Glass Rock Total Area.- 8,800 sqm.
Edomizaka Terrace Building Total Area.- 8,100 sqm.
Glass Rock Total Area.- 8,800 sqm.
Edomizaka Terrace Building Total Area.- 8,100 sqm.
Height
Station Tower.- 266 m.
Glass Rock.- 30 m.
Edomizaka Terrace Building.- 59 m.
Glass Rock.- 30 m.
Edomizaka Terrace Building.- 59 m.
Dates
Competition.- April 2016.
Groundbreaking.- November 2019.
Opening.- October 2023.
Groundbreaking.- November 2019.
Opening.- October 2023.
Location
Tokyo, Japan.
Photography
Tomoyuki Kusunose.
Office for Metropolitan Architecture OMA, New York
Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is a leading international partnership practicing architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis. OMA's buildings and masterplans around the world insist on intelligent forms while inventing new possibilities for content and everyday use. OMA is led by ten partners – Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, David Gianotten, Chris van Duijn, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Jason Long and Michael Kokora – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, Doha and Dubai.
Responsible for OMA’s operations in America, OMA New York was established in 2001 and has since overseen the successful completion of several buildings across the country including Milstein Hall at Cornell University (2011); the Wyly Theater in Dallas (2009); the Seattle Central Library (2004); the IIT Campus Center in Chicago (2003); and Prada’s Epicenter in New York (2001). The office is currently overseeing the construction of three cultural projects, including the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec and the Faena Arts District in Miami Beach – both scheduled for completion in 2016 – as well as a studio expansion for artist Cai Guo Qiang in New York. The New York office has most recently been commissioned to design a number of residential towers in San Francisco, New York, and Miami, as well as two projects in Los Angeles; the Plaza at Santa Monica, a mixed use complex in Los Angeles, and the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.
OMA New York’s ongoing engagements with urban conditions around the world include a new civic center in Bogota, Colombia; a post-Hurricane Sandy, urban water strategy for New Jersey; the 11th Street Bridge Park and RFK Stadium-Armory Campus Masterplan in Washington, DC; and a food hub in West Louisville, Kentucky.
Shohei Shigematsu
Shohei Shigematsu born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1973. In 1996 graduated from the Department of Architecture at Kyushu University. Studying at the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam. He became an associate since 2004.joined OMA in 1998 and became a partner in 2008.
He has led the office in New York since 2006. Sho's designs for cultural venues include the Quebec National Beaux Arts Museum and the Faena Arts Center in Miami Beach, as well as direct collaborations with artists, including Cai Guo Qiang, Marina Abramovic and Kanye West.
Sho is currently designing a number of luxury, high rise towers in San Francisco, New York, and Miami, as well as a mixed-use complex in Santa Monica. His engagement with urban conditions around the world include a new civic center in Bogota, Colombia; a post-Hurricane Sandy, urban water strategy for New Jersey; and a food hub in Louisville, Kentucky.
He is a design critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he is conducting a research studio entitled Alimentary Design, investigating the intersection of food, architecture and urbanism.
He has led the office in New York since 2006. Sho's designs for cultural venues include the Quebec National Beaux Arts Museum and the Faena Arts Center in Miami Beach, as well as direct collaborations with artists, including Cai Guo Qiang, Marina Abramovic and Kanye West.
Sho is currently designing a number of luxury, high rise towers in San Francisco, New York, and Miami, as well as a mixed-use complex in Santa Monica. His engagement with urban conditions around the world include a new civic center in Bogota, Colombia; a post-Hurricane Sandy, urban water strategy for New Jersey; and a food hub in Louisville, Kentucky.
He is a design critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he is conducting a research studio entitled Alimentary Design, investigating the intersection of food, architecture and urbanism.
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