Ark Mori Building

Completed in March 1986 as the office centrepiece of the Ark Hills mixed-use complex in Akasaka, this 37-storey tower by Irie Miyake Architects & Engineers is widely cited as the founding model for large-scale private-sector urban redevelopment in Japan.

Use

Office tower

Area

Minato City

Completed

1986

Floors

37 above ground, 4 below

Height

144.8 m

Total floor area

approx. 181,833 m²

Developer

Mori Building Co.

Architect

Irie Miyake Architects & Engineers

Akasaka’s Landmark and the Origins of Urban Redevelopment

The Ark Mori Building was completed in March 1986, standing 37 floors above ground and four below in the Akasaka district of Minato City, Tokyo. Designed by Irie Miyake Architects & Engineers and built by Kajima Corporation, it has a total floor area of approximately 181,833 square metres. The building is the office centrepiece of Ark Hills — a mixed-use development led by Mori Building that also incorporates Suntory Hall, a hotel, and a residential tower within the same precinct.

Ark Hills is consistently cited as the first major private-sector-led urban redevelopment project in Japan. Planning began in the late 1960s in a district of densely built wooden houses in the Akasaka and Roppongi neighbourhoods. Reaching consensus with the existing landowners took more than 17 years — a patient, negotiation-driven process that Mori Building would refine and repeat in later projects at Roppongi Hills and Azabudai Hills. The completed precinct replaced a fragmented urban block with a cohesive mixed-use district where offices and a concert hall share the same address.

That pairing of the Ark Mori Building with Suntory Hall was intentional. Placing culture alongside commerce within a single walkable block was unusual for Tokyo at the time and helped define Ark Hills’ identity as something more than a conventional office development.

From Landmark to Neighbourhood Anchor

Ark Hills has matured steadily in the four decades since completion. The Ark Hills Sengokuyama Mori Tower — a residential and green-space complex — was added to the same site in 2012, deepening the programme and introducing a new generation of residents to the precinct. The district is within walking distance of both Roppongi-itchome Station and Kamiyacho Station, and sits close to the rapidly developing corridor that now stretches from Toranomon Hills to Azabudai Hills.

Standing at the base of the Ark Mori Building and looking south towards the newer towers that have risen over the past decade, it is possible to trace a continuous line of Mori Building projects reshaping this corner of Minato City — a built record of the developer’s long-held philosophy of making entire districts rather than individual buildings.

Summary

The Ark Mori Building was completed in March 1986 with 37 floors and a height of approximately 145 metres. As the office tower at the heart of Ark Hills, it represents the founding project in a lineage of large-scale urban redevelopment that has defined much of central Tokyo’s western axis. Suntory Hall, the hotel, and the residential towers added over the decades make this a precinct worth visiting for more than its height. Walking up from Roppongi-itchome Station and arriving at the Ark Hills plaza, the scale of what was built — and what it replaced — comes into focus.

Related: Tokyo World Gate (Kamiyacho Trust Tower) / Roppongi Hills Mori Tower

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