In certain parts of Tokyo, the city is going through a transformation. One such area is Toranomon Hills, a bustling district in central Tokyo. It’s there that the Japanese real-estate giant Mori Building is embarking on a massive mixed-use development that includes three new towers. One of those, Toranomon Hills Station Tower, will be designed by OMA , while the two others are set to be created by the German-based firm Ingenhoven Architects.
The structures by Ingenhoven—a 607-foot-tall office tower and a 722-foot residential building—have been conceived as a pair. Although their functions are different, on both buildings the architects emphasized horizontal ledges that extend from each floor; from the surrounding areas, the towers will read like a series of stacked plates. These surfaces accomplish a number of important goals, among them providing outdoor space for office workers and residents and reducing the amount of direct sun that comes into the interiors, which keeps the indoor temperature from surging due to solar heat gain.
A closer look at the base of the buildings.
Yet, the architects wanted to create a beautiful pair of buildings as well. That is why they planned for the ledges to be lushly planted, so, collectively, the towers appear to resemble hanging gardens, with plants and vines spilling over each terrace. Ingenhoven will include vegetation on the rooftops, too, so between the public green space at street level, the hanging gardens, and the green roof, the new development will provide a continuous planted landscape, from ground to sky. In addition to its aesthetic value, the greenery will help increase the energy efficiency of the buildings. Mori expects to finish the towers by 2019, just ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, in 2020.
