Shinjuku i-Land Tower

Completed in January 1995 with 44 stories and a height of approximately 189 m, Shinjuku i-Land Tower was developed by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation in the western fringe of Nishi-Shinjuku. Its plaza is home to Robert Indiana's iconic LOVE sculpture.

Use

Office tower

Area

Shinjuku City

Completed

1995

Floors

44 above ground, 4 below

Height

189 m

Developer

Housing and Urban Development Corporation (now UR Urban Renaissance)

Architect

Nihon Sekkei / Housing and Urban Development Corporation

LOVE at the Base of a Public-Sector Tower

Coming up from the Nishi-Shinjuku metro walkway, you are greeted by an oversized red sculpture spelling LOVE — the work of American artist Robert Indiana. Behind it, a glass tower stretches 44 floors into the sky: the Shinjuku i-Land Tower, completed in January 1995 with a maximum height of approximately 189 meters. Four basement levels anchor it to the ground, while its glass curtain wall rises without drama above the low-rise streets that still characterize the western edge of Nishi-Shinjuku 6-chome.

The building was developed by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation — the government-affiliated body known today as UR Urban Renaissance — and designed jointly with Nihon Sekkei. It is an office-led mixed-use development whose lower floors accommodate retail and whose plazas connect to the surrounding neighborhood, embodying the “island” concept suggested by its name.

A Public Developer in a Corporate High-Rise District

The Nishi-Shinjuku skyline was built largely by private developers in the 1970s and 1980s. The Shinjuku i-Land Tower stands apart as the product of a public housing and urban development agency, one that intended from the outset to create a live-work community at this location. The goal of combining workplace and residence within a single urban precinct — a concept the Japanese call shokuju kinsetsu — shaped the early planning for the site, even if the executed building became primarily an office tower.

Thirty years after its completion, the tower remains a solid presence in Nishi-Shinjuku’s second tier, west of the original high-rise cluster. The LOVE sculpture at its feet, now a well-known photo spot, gives the building an identity that goes beyond its floors and meters — a piece of public art that makes a corporate district feel, if only briefly, a little more human.

Summary

Shinjuku i-Land Tower was completed in 1995 with 44 above-ground floors and a height of approximately 189 meters. Developed by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation, it represents the public sector’s contribution to the Nishi-Shinjuku skyline.

Walk west from Shinjuku Station and cross the big avenues of the subcenter: the LOVE sculpture in the plaza will mark your arrival at this tower, and from there the western fringe of Nishi-Shinjuku opens up into a quieter, more residential city.

Related: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No.1 / Shinjuku Sumitomo Building / Sumitomo Fudosan Shinjuku Grand Tower

Visiting Nishi-Shinjuku? Rakuten Travel lists hotels throughout the Shinjuku area.