TOKYO TORCH Tokiwabashi Tower

The district sits within a National Strategic Special Zone, intended to strengthen Japan’s international economic competitiveness, and will be a new center of finance and business. It will include Torch Tower, projected to be Japan’s tallest building at 390 meters when completed in FY2027; Tokiwabashi Tower; an Electrical Substation Building; a Sewerage & Waterworks Bureau Building; Tokyo Torch Park; and Tokiwabashi Park. Four existing dilapidated buildings are being demolished and replaced in stages in conjunction with the renewal of urban infrastructure including electrical and water facilities. Tokiwabashi Tower, a 38-story, 212-meter-high mixed-use building, is the first element of the project to be completed.

Soaring among the tallest mixed-use buildings around Tokyo Station, Tokiwabashi Tower is a next-generation business center offering quality office space that supports diverse work styles and innovation while providing outstanding environmental and disaster-safety performance. The building’s form suggests a blade cutting open the future, while the upper section is wrapped in a grid that creates depth and shadow—an exterior design fitting for a center of international finance. The grid blocks sunlight much like kigoshi (wooden latticework) and shoji (paper-covered sliding doors) do in traditional Japanese architecture, gently connecting the interior and exterior environments.
The first underground floor and first two above-ground floors are occupied by restaurants and bars, the third floor is a cafeteria, and the eighth through thirty-seventh floors are offices. The terrazzo walls in the second-floor lobby and on the third, eighth, and ninth floors feature motifs inspired by the walls of Edo Castle and the stonework of Tokiwa Bridge. The abundant use of familiar natural materials such as wood and stone, long utilized in Japanese architecture, is intended to enhance productivity and satisfaction among workers. Workers can directly access MY Shokudo, the cafeteria and lounge on the third floor, from any office floor. While this facility primarily serves employees in the building, there is also an event hall with a kitchen to encourage interaction, and at night the facility can be used by people who live in the neighborhood.