Tornare Nihonbashi Hamacho

Completed in September 2005, this 47-story, 156-meter residential tower anchors a mixed-use redevelopment in the quiet riverside district of Hamacho. The project, organized by more than 100 landowners, incorporated the relocation of a local Shinto shrine and community hall alongside housing and office space.

Use

Residential tower

Area

Chuo City

Completed

2005

Floors

47 above ground, 2 below

Height

156.07 m

Total floor area

approx. 61,295 m²

Developer

Nihonbashi Hamacho 3-chome West Urban Redevelopment Association

Architect

Sato Sogo Keikaku

A 47-Story Tower in a Quiet Riverside Neighbourhood

In Nihonbashi Hamacho 3-chome, Chuo City, a residential tower of 156.07 meters stands alongside the offices and low-rise fabric of a district that sits between the commercial energy of Nihonbashi and the older residential texture of Hamacho and Bakurochō. Tornare Nihonbashi Hamacho was completed in September 2005. Its residential tower rises 47 floors above two basement levels; the accompanying office building stands 18 floors above two basement levels. The residential section contains 587 units. Design was by Sato Sogo Keikaku, and construction was carried out by a joint venture of Taisei Corporation and Goyo Kensetsu.

The name “Tornare” is derived from the Italian verb meaning “to return” — to go back, to come home again. The aspiration embedded in the naming is legible: a place one wants to return to, a neighborhood that earns the attachment of its residents. Hamacho sits in a relatively quiet arc of central Tokyo, within reach of the Sumida River, Hamacho Park, and the transport connections of Ningyocho Station.

A Redevelopment That Included the Local Shrine

What distinguishes Tornare Nihonbashi Hamacho within the broader landscape of Tokyo residential redevelopment is the scope of what the project encompassed. The Nihonbashi Hamacho 3-chome West Urban Redevelopment Association was formed by more than one hundred landowners, and their collective plan included not only housing and office space but the rebuilding of a local Shinto shrine and a community meeting hall. Incorporating a neighborhood’s tutelary shrine into the program of a high-rise redevelopment is unusual in any context; it required sustained negotiation among the landowners and careful attention to the continuity of community life during and after construction.

The result is a development where a 47-story tower and a local shrine coexist on a site with a total floor area of 61,295 square meters — a compact layering of the contemporary and the traditional. Viewed from the Sumida River embankment or from Hamacho Park across the street, the building’s silhouette reads clearly against the sky. Up close, the mix of uses at its base speaks to the compromise and community-building that urban redevelopment, at its best, requires.

Summary

Tornare Nihonbashi Hamacho was completed in September 2005 in Nihonbashi Hamacho 3-chome, Chuo City. Designed by Sato Sogo Keikaku and built by Taisei Corporation and Goyo Kensetsu, the 47-floor residential tower reaches 156.07 meters and houses 587 units. Its most distinctive quality is the care taken to weave a Shinto shrine and community facilities into an otherwise contemporary redevelopment. A walk along the Sumida River from Hamacho to Kiyosubashi is a fine way to take in the building’s scale and the character of the neighborhood around it.