Mori Building is one of Tokyo’s leading urban development companies responsible for some of the city’s most pivotal hubs, including Roppongi Hills, Mori Art Museum, Ginza Six and Laforet Harajuku. Their ventures are often aimed to combine art and culture with retail and living facilities, but the recently revealed plans indicate that the new buildings will be their most ambitious endeavor to date.
The Toranomon-Azabudai Project is a neighbourhood redevelopment plan that will include several new low-rise buildings featuring shops, residential spaces and galleries, as well as a seven-storey international school and three high-rise buildings, one of which will be the tallest building in Japan, standing at 330 metres.
The mammoth project, set to be completed in spring of 2023, is expected to cost ¥580 billion. Mori is working with several internationally renowned architects and designers to rebuild the neighbourhood, including London-based designer Thomas Heatherwick.
Photo: Heatherwick Studio l Darcstudio
Heatherwick, who designed the Vessel in New York among other groundbreaking structures worldwide, worked to incorporate an abundance of natural elements in the neighbourhood and within its new structures. Roughly 24,000 square metres of greenery will cover the complex with lawns, garden, trees and water features. To go with its core theme of ‘Green and Wellness’, 100 percent of the neighbourhood will be powered by renewable energy to meet the stipulated targets of The Climate Group.
The idea is to seamlessly integrate all aspects of city life into one neighborhood where people would feel invigorated by their surroundings rather than being drained by them. Presently, much of the city is structured in a way that spaces catering to different needs exist as separate entities, but Mori Building is working to merge facilities such as shops, restaurants, schools and offices and make them better connected to each other. Mori Building hopes that by linking the neighbourhoods of Ark Hills, Roppongi Hills and Toranomon Hills together, they can create a single 'modern urban village', paving the way for the future of the city's infrastructure.
For more information, check out Mori Building's official website.