Torch Tower, Japan’s tallest building, begins the Construction

10/10/2023

[TOK] Japan

metalocus, ANTONIO CORREDERA

Torch Tower, Japan’s tallest building, begins the Construction

Construction has begun on the Torch Tower, in Tokyo, designed by the team of Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, Koji Matsuda,

Sou Fujimoto

, Yuko Nagayama, and Takanori Fukuoka.

The Torch Tower, a 390-meter skyscraper, that is set to be the new tallest building in Japan is expected to be completed in March 2028, will surpass the 330-meter Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower in the capital's Minato Ward, which is currently the tallest building in the country.

The Torch Tower is one of four buildings to be constructed as part of a major redevelopment of Tokyo’s historic Tokiwabashi district, will be directly connected to the city’s Ōtemachi subway stop, right next to Tokyo station, and is led by developers

Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd.

When completed, the

Torch Tower

designed by Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, Koji Matsuda,

Sou Fujimoto

, Yuko Nagayama, and Takanori Fukuoka, will hold a luxury hotel operated by the Dorchester Collection, a 2,000-capacity entertainment hall,xa0 offices, commercial, and retail outlets, and an observation deck

Integrating pedestrian areas the entertainment hall and retail spaces will be located within a base plinth rising from a single below-ground floor to a sixth above-ground floor.

As its name suggests, the Torch Tower "that lights up the world" in the words of the developers, is inspired by a lit torch.

“That is, the light that symbolizes Japan to the whole world, the light that brightens one’s life for the future century, the light that gathers those who come together to build Japan’s future,”

the developer comments.

The construction is part of Mitsubishi Estate's redevelopment project covering a 3.1-hectare area near Tokyo Station. The Japanese company has already built the 212-meter-high Tokiwabashi Tower in the area.

SOU FUJIMOTO

Sou Fujimoto

was born in Hokkaido, Japan on August 4, 1971. In 1994 he graduated in architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo. He established his own architecture studio,xa0the agency Sou Fujimoto Architects, in Tokyo in 2000, and since 2007 a u200bu200bprofessor at Kyoto University.

He was first noticed in 2005 when he won the prestigious AR – international Architectural Review Awards in the Young architect’s category, a prize that he garnered for three consecutive years, and the Top Prize in 2006.

In 2008, he was invited to jury these very AR Awards. The same year he won the JIA (Japan Institute of Architects) prize and the highest recognition from the World Architecture Festival, in the Private House section. In 2009, the magazine Wallpaper* accorded him their Design Award.u2028 Sou Fujimoto published “Primitive Future” in 2008, the year’s best-selling architectural text. His architectural design, consistently searching for new forms and spaces between nature and artifice.

Sou Fujimoto became the youngest architect to design the annual summer pavilion for London’s Serpentine Gallery in 2013, and has won several awards, notably a Golden Lion for the Japan Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale and The Wall Street Journal Architecture Innovator Award in 2014.