Nittele Tower

Completed in April 2003, the Nittele Tower rises 32 floors above the Shiodome Sio-Site in Minato City. Designed with Richard Rogers Partnership as conceptual architect, its four exposed megastructure buttresses make it one of the most distinctive entries in Tokyo's skyline.

Use

Office tower

Area

Minato City

Completed

2003

Floors

32 above ground, 4 below

Height

192.8 m

Total floor area

approx. 130,725 m²

Developer

Nippon Television Network

Architect

Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei (design); Richard Rogers Partnership (concept)

A Tower Built Inside Out

In April 2003, a 32-story skyscraper was completed in the C block of Shiodome Sio-Site in Minato City, Tokyo. Standing approximately 192 metres tall, the Nittele Tower — headquarters and studio complex of Nippon Television Network — was realised through a collaboration between Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei and the Richard Rogers Partnership, with the latter responsible for the conceptual design.

The most visible element is the set of exposed megastructure trusses — called “buttresses” — positioned at the building’s four corners. Massive steel diagonals run along the exterior, making the structural frame the primary design gesture rather than hiding it behind a curtain wall. This is Richard Rogers’ signature “inside-out” philosophy at work: a belief that the honest expression of structure and services gives a building clarity and integrity. At its peak, an antenna brings the highest point to 196 metres, punctuating the Shiodome skyline with a distinctive silhouette. The interior accommodates medium- and large-format broadcast studios alongside office space, with four basement levels holding parking and technical facilities across a total floor area of around 130,725 square metres.

Shiodome Sio-Site and the Media Cluster

The Nittele Tower occupies the former grounds of the National Railway’s Shiodome Freight Yard, transformed in the early 2000s into Shiodome Sio-Site — a large-scale mixed-use redevelopment zone covering roughly 32 hectares east of Shinbashi Station. Through the same period, the Dentsu headquarters, Shiodome City Center, and the Tokyo Shiodome Building with its Conrad Tokyo hotel all joined the district, creating a concentration of broadcasting, advertising, and hospitality uses unlike anything else in central Tokyo.

Both JR Shinbashi and the Toei Oedo/Yurikamome Shiodome stations are within walking distance, making the area easy to reach from multiple directions. From the highway approaches to Shiodome, the exposed buttresses of the Nittele Tower serve as a landmark that orients drivers approaching central Tokyo from the waterfront.

Summary

Completed in April 2003, the Nittele Tower stands 32 floors tall with a building height of approximately 192 metres. Its collaboration between Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei and Richard Rogers Partnership produced one of the few explicitly “inside-out” towers in Japan, with exposed megastructure trusses that remain as compelling today as they were at opening. The surrounding blocks of Shiodome Sio-Site form a concentrated picture of early-2000s Tokyo urban renewal — a worthwhile destination for anyone curious about how the city reshapes itself.

Related: Dentsu Headquarters / Shiodome City Center

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