Business & Economy

Japan’s tallest skyscraper unveiled in Tokyo

Tokyo, Aug 8 (EFE).- Japan’s tallest skyscraper, the 330-meter-high Mori JP Tower, was unveiled to the media in the heart of Tokyo on Tuesday ahead of its November inauguration.

The 64-storey skyscraper is part of the Azabudai Hills complex, and was designed by the American architectural firm Pelli Clarke & Partners.

“It took more than 30 years to redevelop Azabudai Hills. The town is now taking shape and Tokyo will change dramatically from here. A city beyond our imagination is about to be built,” Mori Building Co. President and CEO Shingo Tsuji told journalists.

The tower will be mixed use, including office rental, residences, the Keio University Center for Preventive Medicine and a British international school (with 740 students), as well as shops and restaurants.

It is also accompanied by a lower structure with curved lines by Briton Thomas Heatherwick, known for creating the 2012 London Olympics cauldron, inaugurating his first architectural work in Japan.

Defined as “a city within a city,” the entire complex has an area of about 861,700 square meters and includes about 1,400 homes, about 20,000 workers and about 30 million visitors a year.

“The essence of a city is the people that live there and how they are connected to nature and each other. We need to create an environment that seems like a town square,” Tsuji added.

In addition to shops and a green area, the complex will also house the interactive art collective teamLab and its “Borderless” exhibition, moving its headquarters from Odaiba (Tokyo Bay) to the heart of the capital from January 2024.

According to the company, Azabudai Hills will also incorporate a large open space with lush vegetation – 220 species of plants that change with each season – in order to “ring closer to people and encourage creativity.

The tallest building in the country before the completion of the new landmark was the 300-meter commercial-use Abeno Harukas in Osaka.

The Mori JP Tower is expected to be surpassed in 2027 by the Torch Tower, which is under construction near Tokyo Station by Mitsubishi Estate and will stand 390m tall.

Japan has about 300 skyscrapers that exceed 150 meters in height, although these are relatively smaller than those of other Asian countries due to legal height restrictions and the need for them to stand up to earthquakes.

The tallest structure in Japan is the Tokyo Skytree broadcasting tower in Sumida at a height of 634m, followed by Tokyo Tower, also for telecommunications, and measuring 333m. EFE

emg-yk/tw

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