Archinect - News

Pelli Clarke & Partners opens Mori JP Tower, Japan's new tallest building

2024-03-18T13:56:00-04:00

Pelli Clarke & Partners has shared news of their completed work on the Mori JP Tower project inside the Azabudai Hills District in Tokyo. The new tallest building in Japan is a 64-story mixed-used design complementing the two other high-rise structures included in the redevelopment district and was completed last fall at a total height of 330 meters (1,082 feet).

“Mori JP Tower, and with it Azabudai Hills, is among the first buildings visitors see upon arrival to Tokyo, creating a new center and landmark for the city,” Mitch Hirsch, Partner at Pelli Clarke & Partners, said in a project announcement of the scheme. “To design a tower of this significance in a city renowned for its unique skyline is a privilege.”

Photo by Jason O'Rear

The building is designed to evoke the symmetry of a lotus flower form, clad in a distinctive pearl-grey glass curtain facade and topped by a crown made from four separate curved glass pedals.

Photo by Jason O'Rear

Photo by Jason O'Rear...

Heatherwick's Azabudai Hills mixed-use development opens in Tokyo

2023-11-29T14:25:00-05:00

Heatherwick Studio has released a new batch of project images along with an announcement of the long-awaited completion of their Azabudai Hills mixed-use district in Tokyo.

The multi-billion dollar project for Mori Building Co. Ltd. culminates a 30-year regeneration process in the heart of the city’s Minato ward with a new 20-acre design that features two temples, office and retail components, residential buildings, a school, and 5.9 acres of open green space for public use.

Image: Raquel Diniz

In a press announcement, Neil Hubbard, partner and Group Leader at Heatherwick Studio, said: “Over the last 10 years, we have tried to get under the skin of what makes something distinctively Tokyo, whilst at the same time, adding something new that’s fresh and soft to its modern built environment. We wanted to create vistas full of variety and intrigue and spaces to explore. It’s a confluence of different families of design all brought together in one place. I can’t wait to watch people explo...

Sou Fujimoto designs Pace Gallery Tokyo expansion inside Heatherwick's Azabudai Hills development

2023-09-05T16:57:00-04:00

The new home of the Pace Gallery in Tokyo will feature interior spaces designed by Sou Fujimoto inside a three-story portion of Heatherwick Studio’s exciting new Azabudai Hills development, according to plans revealed today by the gallery.

The total 5,500-square-foot design includes some 3,000 square feet of exhibition spaces split between the first and second floors of the gallery. A third floor will also include a private terrace and sculptural garden connected to the landscape component of the 20-acre site, which sits prominently at the nexus of several other cultural destinations in the city’s busy Toranomon commercial district.

Rendering © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd

The designer of the 2013 Serpentine Pavilion and Musashino Art University Museum and Library will deliver a space that is evocative of his personal explorations and approach to architecture.

Rendering © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd

Pace says it has been interested in a Japanese expansion since at least the la...

Heatherwick Studio details progress on Toranomon-Azabudai district in Tokyo

2023-05-15T12:20:00-04:00

Heatherwick Studio has shared new photos of their nearly complete Toranomon-Azabudai mixed-use district in the heart of Tokyo.

The 20-acre plan includes a new school, temple, shopping center, and a 64,583-square-foot central garden with room for 1,400 residences, 150 retailers, and capacity for over 20,000 office workers.

The studio devised a pergola-like facade system in order to give the construction a distinctive visual character while adding a “vibrant piece of urban topography” to the city’s patchwork commercial Minato Ward area.

Previously on Archinect: Heatherwick Studio begins construction in the Toranomon-Azabudai district in Tokyo

Heatherwick says they are taking a “human-centred approach by integrating nature into the public spaces.”

Once in operation, the district is expected to attract some 30 million visitors annually. The project broke ground in August of 2019. Tokyo’s Mori Building Company is the client. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of this year...

New photos show progress on Heatherwick's Toranomon-Azabudai district in Tokyo

2022-12-08T14:57:00-05:00

Heatherwick Studio has shared construction photos of its soon-to-complete Toranomon-Azabudai redevelopment project underway in Tokyo.

The firm’s first Japanese project is set to bring a new school, temple, shopping areas, and a 64,583-square-foot central garden to a previously underutilized district in the heart of the capital city’s Minato Ward for developers Mori Building Company.

"It’s been very exciting working on the Toranomon-Azabudai project and much of our effort has been focused on designing the public spaces that everyone will experience when they spend time in this new area," Heatherwick said at the project’s initial announcement.

Previously on Archinect: Heatherwick Studio begins construction in the Toranomon-Azabudai district in Tokyo. Rendering by DBOX for Mori Building Co.

"For the design, we have taken a human-centred approach by integrating nature into the public spaces. A pergola-like façade system has been devised and scaled up to unify the project and to allow p...

Tower frame on what will be Japan's tallest building has been completed in Tokyo

2022-04-27T17:21:00-04:00

Construction has been completed on the structure of Japan’s second tallest building, the 330m Toranomon-Azabudai Project A District tower, which will be second only to the Tokyo Tower.

The tower is part of the larger Toranomon-Azabudai District Category 1 Urban Redevelopment Project, which will include two other buildings, all designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners, that will host offices, residences, a hotel, an international school, retail shops, restaurants, and cultural facilities. Together they will form an 8.1-hectare “modern urban village” featuring no less than 2.4 hectares of greenery and a 6,000-square-meter central square.

Image: Pelli Clarke & Partners

When complete, the tower is expected to be Japan’s tallest building, just shy of the nearby landmark Tokyo Tower. The entire redevelopment complex is set to be complete by 2023.

Pelli Clarke Pelli unveils designs for tallest skyscrapers in Japan

2019-08-29T13:30:00-04:00

Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (PCP) and Japanese "urban landscape developer" Mori Building have unveiled renderings for a new "modern urban village" slated for Tokyo's Minato City. PCP has designed the project's three towers, including the project's centerpiece, a 1,080-foot spire slated to be the tallest building in Japan when completed.

Rending by DBOX for Mori Building Co.

The bulging, glass-wrapped tower is capped by a floral top and will contain a mix of offices, residences, and retail spaces. The two adjacent towers that make up the complex feature a mix of residential, office, and hotel spaces. According to a press release announcing the project, the towers were designed under the guidance of the late architect César Pelli.

The towers are embedded within a 20-acre site that has been designed by Heatherwick Studio. Heatherwick's domain includes the project's public realm and "lower level architecture," according to a press release. Earlier this month, renderings were unveiled...

Heatherwick Studio begins construction in the Toranomon-Azabudai district in Tokyo

2019-08-23T13:06:00-04:00

Heatherwick Studio has commenced construction on the redevelopment of the Toranomon-Azabudai district of Tokyo. the project is due to complete in March 2023 and is Heatherwick Studio's first project in Japan to move into construction.

The studio focused on the "public realm and lower-level podium architecture" of the development, including landscaping and retail. The design includes a mix of office, residential, retail, and a school and temple, "all set within a new vibrant piece of urban topography to achieve Mori Building Company's ambition of creating an exceptional public district for the city."

Rendering by DBOX for Mori Building Co.

“It’s been very exciting working on the Toranomon-Azabudai project and much of our effort has been focused on designing the public spaces that everyone will experience when they spend time in this new area. As many new developments around the world can be harsh and sterile we wondered if we could provide a more human-centered alternative by integrat...