Shinagawa Grand Commons

A seven-building mixed-use complex completed in 2003 on the former Japanese National Railways freight yard east of Shinagawa Station. Its tallest tower, Shinagawa Grand Central Tower, rises 32 floors and 148 metres above Konan. A 400-metre linear park ties the buildings together, setting the complex apart from a conventional office cluster.

Use

Office tower

Area

Minato City

Completed

2003

Floors

32 above ground, 3 below

Height

148 m

Developer

Kowa Real Estate (now Nittetsu Kowa Real Estate)

Architect

Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei

A Seven-Tower District on Shinagawa’s East Side

Step out of Shinagawa Station’s Konan exit and the skyline opens up: a row of high-rise towers arranged across a generous forecourt, tied together by wide walkways and greenery. Shinagawa Grand Commons is a large-scale mixed-use complex completed in 2003 (some records cite 2004) on land that had previously served as a freight yard for Japanese National Railways. It sits immediately east of Shinagawa Intercity, which opened on the same stretch of reclaimed railway land five years earlier, and the two complexes together define the Konan exit’s character as a corporate and commercial district.

The complex comprises seven buildings in total — five office towers and two residential towers — across a site of approximately 52,766 square metres. The tallest, Shinagawa Grand Central Tower, stands 32 floors above ground and 3 below, reaching a height of 148 metres. Alongside it, the Taiyo Life Shinagawa Building rises to 30 floors. The overall master plan and design were carried out by Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, with development led by Kowa Real Estate (now Nittetsu Kowa Real Estate).

A Park as the Organising Idea

What sets Shinagawa Grand Commons apart from a conventional cluster of office towers is Shinagawa Central Garden: a linear park approximately 45 metres wide and 400 metres long that runs through the heart of the complex. Rather than filling the space between buildings with pavement, the designers gave the site a green corridor that connects the Konan exit to the far end of the precinct, creating a sense of openness unusual for central Tokyo.

The lower floors of Shinagawa Grand Central Tower house a retail zone called Shinagawa Grand Passage, alongside THE GRAND HALL — a multi-purpose venue with a capacity of over 500 seats. A covered elevated walkway, the Skyway, links the towers so that visitors can move around the entire precinct without stepping outside. In 2003, the year the complex opened, the Tokaido Shinkansen extension brought a new bullet-train stop to Shinagawa Station, amplifying the precinct’s profile as a gateway address. Together, Shinagawa Intercity and Shinagawa Grand Commons turned a working freight yard into the corporate corridor that now marks the east side of one of Tokyo’s busiest stations.

Summary

Shinagawa Grand Commons was completed in 2003 on the former JNR freight yard in Konan, Minato City. Its seven towers — including the 32-floor, 148-metre Shinagawa Grand Central Tower — were designed by Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei and developed by Kowa Real Estate. A 400-metre central park and a covered skyway tie the buildings together, giving the complex an openness that distinguishes it from the denser office streets of central Tokyo. Walk out of the Konan exit on a clear day and the scale of the transformation — from freight yard to high-rise precinct — is easy to feel underfoot.

Related: Shinagawa Intercity / Tokyo Portcity Takeshiba

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