New renderings and details have been released for OMA’s first tower in Tokyo, and in Japan.
Called Toranomon Hills Station Tower, the design, led by OMA Partner Shohei Shigematsu, is currently under construction at site and planned to be opened in fall 2023.
When open to the public, the Toranomon Hills Station Tower – or the Station Tower – will mark the significant completion of Mori Building’s Toranomon Hills development, a new international urban hub and global business center.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Construction Photo, Jan 4 2023. OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.
The design of the tower will establish a new gateway thanks to its multi-layered transportation node and network,which will connect Central Tokyo and the world.
Developed by Tokyo-based innovative urban developer, Mori Building, the Station Tower is located in Toranomon Hills “Global Business Center” near Kasumigaseki—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”.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Construction Photo, Jan 12 2023. OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.
The Station Tower will stand at the terminus of Shintora-dori Avenue, Tokyo’s newly configured axial thoroughfare connecting Tokyo Bay to city center.
The project will be a mixed-use, high-rise tower spanning 49-floors and reaching 266 meters in height. The program of the twoer is comprised of offices, commercial spaces, hotels and interactive communication facility, called TOKYO NODE.
The tower will be integrated to the newly opened Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line station, which was opened in 2020, and function as a major transportation hub for Tokyo and beyond.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Construction Photo, Jan 4 2023. OMA NY, Mori Building Co., Ltd.
“Our first tower in Tokyo is dedicated to connections, to its high-rise neighbors and diverse neighborhood networks. The Station Tower confronts and resonates with the three-dimensionality of Tokyo’s urban environment that steers people through stacks and layers of places and activities,” said Shohei Shigematsu, OMA Partner.
“It’s shaped by a central activity band that allows life around the tower to lead into, up and over, and through its potentially sobering scale.”
“Carved, bisected, and shifted in form from base to top, it spatially and programmatically opens up to new links—to Shintora-dori, the bay area, the new pedestrian and green network of Toranomon Hills Area, the greater Tokyo Metro network, and the global network of creatives that will activate TOKYO NODE,” Shigematsu added.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Pedestrian Deck / T-Deck. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
OMA adds “the necessary, highly public interface” to the tower as an extension of the nature and activities of Shintora-dori Avenue.
While the base of the building is expressed as a large funnel, the heart of the building will be opened to draw the public inward.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Pedestrian Deck / T-Deck, Construction Photo, Jan 12 2023. OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.
The other key feature is a large-scale pedestrian bridge, called The T-DECK, which will emphatically link the tower to the diverse Toranomon Hills developments to improve circulation and forge a lively network of activities and greenery.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Station Atrium. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
The bridge sectionally divides and defines two public zones at the tower base; an Upper Atrium and the Station Atrium below. The Station Atrium will integrate the development to the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line.
The Station Atrium, a three-story concourse flooded with natural light, will be “the first of its kind in Tokyo” and provide an exciting sense of arrival. The public activity at the base will extend vertically to form a central band of special areas for tower tenants.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Station Atrium. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
On the top of the tower, a new type of facility, called TOKYO NODE, will be devised together with Mori Building.
TOKYO NODE will be a hybrid of flexible venue and innovative forum and it will be an interactive communication facility including halls, galleries, studio, garden, pool, and restaurants.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. TOKYO NODE. Interactive Communication Facility. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
TOKYO NODE will gather creative people and ideas to catalyze new values and experiences, disseminating content and information created by enhancing collaborations that transcend domains such as business, art, entertainment, technology, and fashion.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. TOKYO NODE Sky Garden and Pool. Interactive Communication Facility. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
“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,” said Shohei Shigematsu.
“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,” Shigematsu added.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Pedestrian Deck / T-Deck. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Together with Mori Tower, opened in 2014, Business Tower, opened in 2020, and Residential Tower, opened in 2022, and the opening of the Station Tower will mark the continued evolution of Toranomon Hills—a 7.5 ha and approximately 800,000-square-metre new neighborhood in Central Tokyo.
OMA said that “additional transportation infrastructure such as roads, bus terminal, subways, and pedestrian decks will be integrated in the future to complete the new international hub and global business center comparable to the scale of Roppongi Hills.”
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Sky Lobby. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
“A highly public interface”
“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?,” Shigematsu stated in the project description.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Office Rental Space “Magnet Zone”. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
The architect emphasizes that the project has “a highly public interface” in general. “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,” he said.
“The nature and activities of Shintora-dori Avenue extend into and through the tower via an elevated pedestrian bridge, emphatically linking the area’s towers together to create a network of activities and greenery.”
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. TOKYO NODE Hall Interactive Communication Facility. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. TOKYO NODE Gallery Interactive Communication Facility. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Hotel Toranomon Hills Guest Room. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Hotel Toranomon Hills Lounge. OMA NY. Image © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Panoramic View. OMA NY. Image © The Boundary
Site plan. Image © OMA NY, Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Section Diagram. Image © OMA NY, Mori Building Co., Ltd.
OMA/Shohei Shigematsu recently designed a new exhibition space for French luxury fashion house Dior at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) in Tokyo, Japan.
Shohei Shigematsu is a Partner at OMA and leads the firm’s portfolio spanning diverse typologies and scale. Sho has built several innovative workspaces including the China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters in Beijing, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Headquarters (2013), and Tenjin Business Center in Fukuoka, OMA’s first ground up office building in Japan (2021).
Project facts
Lead Design Architect: OMA New York
Location: Location: Tokyo, JP
Station Towet total area: 236,640m2
Partner: Shohei Shigematsu
Associates: Takeshi Mitsuda, Jake Sadler-Foster, Luke Willis
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.
Executive Architect: Mori Building Co., Ltd., Kume Sekkei
Structure: Kume Sekkei
Structure (competition): Arup
MEP/FP: Kume Sekkei
Façade: Kume Sekkei, Arup Japan
Bridge: NEY & Partners
Interior Lightning: Arc Light Design
Exterior Lighting: L’Observatoire International
Model: Vincent de Rijk
General Contractor: Kajima Corporation
Top image: Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Construction Photo, Jan 4 2023. OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.
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