Cross Air Tower

A 42-story residential skyscraper completed in 2013 in Ohashi, Meguro City, built using the three-dimensional road system that allows a structure to share vertical space with the Ohashi Junction of the Metropolitan Expressway.

Use

Residential tower

Area

Meguro City

Completed

2013

Floors

42 above ground, 2 below

Height

155 m

Developer

Tokyu Land Corporation, Tokyu Corporation, Mitsui Fudosan Residential, Taisei Yuraku Real Estate, Tokyo Metropolitan Government

Architect

Taisei Corporation

42 Floors Rising Inside a Highway Loop

Ohashi 1-chome, Meguro City, Tokyo. Walking west from Ikejiri-Ohashi Station and up the slope, the looping flyovers of the Ohashi Junction of the Metropolitan Expressway fill the view entirely. Inside that loop, a 42-story residential tower rises to 155 meters. Cross Air Tower was completed in February 2013, the result of a joint redevelopment project by Tokyu Land Corporation, Tokyu Corporation, Mitsui Fudosan Residential, Taisei Yuraku Real Estate, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Design and construction were handled by a joint venture led by Taisei Corporation.

Looking up from the streets below, the expressway flyovers and the tower’s facade overlap and interlock in a way that is singular even within Tokyo. The road infrastructure and the residential block climb toward the same sky, layered on top of each other in a configuration that feels unlike any ordinary urban plot.

A New Form of Co-existence Through the Three-Dimensional Road System

At the heart of Cross Air Tower’s story is the three-dimensional road system — a legal framework that permits a building to share vertical space with a public road. By treating the airspace above and below the Ohashi Junction as part of the building’s site, the project was able to secure approximately 46 percent more floor area than a conventional plot would allow. Stacking a residential building and a highway in the same column of space was a bold experiment in dense urban land use that drew considerable attention at the time.

The roof of the expressway loop was developed into Meguro Sky Garden, a municipal park open to the public. A green terrace running along the circular loop offers unexpected views of the surrounding Ikejiri-Ohashi neighborhood. The park and the tower together give this corner of Meguro City a character unlike anywhere else in the city.

Summary

Cross Air Tower was completed in 2013, with 42 floors above ground and 2 below, standing 155 meters tall. Built through the three-dimensional road system to co-exist with the Ohashi Junction of the Metropolitan Expressway, it stands as a vivid example of how Tokyo has learned to layer infrastructure and daily life in the same vertical space.

From Ikejiri-Ohashi Station, a short uphill walk brings you to one of the most unusual urban landscapes in the city.

Related: Ohashi Junction / Nakameguro Atlas Tower

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