Preview of OMA's first tower to be completed in Tokyo
OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.

Preview of OMA's first tower to be completed in Tokyo

6 feb. 2023  •  Noticias  •  By Allie Shiell

Set to open in the Fall of 2023, Toranomon Hills Station Tower marks OMA's first built tower in Tokyo. The multi-use project incorporates a transportation node and network and forms a keystone of Mori Building's Toranomon Hills development, new global business centre, and urban hub for Tokyo. 

photo_credit OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.
OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.

A total of 49 floors and 266m in height, the tower concept includes offices, commercial space, hotels, and an interactive communication facility called TOKYO NODE. The high-rise is positioned at the terminus of Shintora-dori Avenue, a newly configured axial thoroughfare connecting Tokyo Bay to the city centre of Tokyo, and will connect with a number of the mixed-used buildings already in the vicinity as well as the newly opened Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line station (2020). 

photo_credit OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.
OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.

The question of how to reflect the energy of the surrounding neighborhood and create a compelling new business network via a mixed-used tower was central to OMA's process during the project's development. 

photo_credit OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.
OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.

The approach to this question for OMA was to bring a highly public interface to the tower. Expressed as a large funnel, the base of the building opens up to draw the public in. Alongside this, T-Deck, a large-scale pedestrian bridge, will link the tower to the surrounding developments, improving connections and fostering a lively network of greenery and activities.

The bridge will divide and define two public zones at the tower's base: the Upper Atrium and the Station  Atrium. Particularly impressive in scale, the Station Atrium will feature a three-story concourse flooded with natural light and connect directly to Tokyo's new Metro Hibiya Line.

photo_credit OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.
OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.

Intended to be visible anywhere in Tokyo, the form of the building can be described as two slabs sandwiching a central band of office uses. The north slab begins wide at its base and narrows as it reaches the top of the tower in deference to the Imperial Palace. Meanwhile, the south slab is narrowest at its bottom and widens as it rises, maximizing views of the city skyline.

photo_credit OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.
OMA NY, Courtesy Mori Building Co., Ltd.

In balance with the highly public base, the tower is capped with a new type of additional public amenity called TOKYO NODE. The facility is described as a hybrid of flexible venue and innovative forum that includes halls, galleries,  lush roof gardens, an infinity pool, and restaurants. The idea is to gather creative people and ideas to catalyze new values and experiences that transcend domains such as business, art, entertainment, technology, and fashion. OMA explains that by inserting highly public and dynamic environments at the base and the top of the tower, the experience within and around the building is made less predictable, a remixing of the mixed-use one could say.

Shohei Shigematsu, OMA Partner Shohei Shigematsu says of the project: "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. 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."