Tokyo Midtown boldly reclaims an 8-hectare site for public benefit. SOM’s master plan allocates 465,000 square meters of mixed-use development and includes a five-acre park. A signature tower, one of Tokyo’s tallest, contains offices, residences, and a hotel. It anchors the project’s southeast corner, while adjacent lower buildings form “foothills” in a design inspired by traditional gardens in Zen temples.

Multiple overlapping planes in the buildings’ elevations recall Japanese Shoji screens that veil rather than enclose, and also imply spatial continuity. A soaring glass plane intersecting the north and south faces of the tower re-proportions the building and marks the axis of a plaza that connects to a retail galleria and the street beyond.