Yokohama Grand InterContinental Hotel

Opened in August 1991 as part of the Pacifico Yokohama convention complex, this 31-storey, 140-metre hotel tower's sail-shaped façade has defined the Minato Mirai skyline for more than three decades.

Use

Office tower

Area

Nishi Ward, Yokohama

Completed

1991

Floors

31 above ground, 1 below

Height

140 m

Developer

Pacifico Yokohama

Architect

Nikken Sekkei / Mancini Duffy Associates

The Sail That Defines Minato Mirai

Walk from the Red Brick Warehouse toward Yokohama Landmark Tower and a white, curved tower appears at the water’s edge before you arrive. Yokohama Grand InterContinental Hotel opened in August 1991 as a 31-storey, one-basement-floor tower rising 140 metres from the Minato Mirai 21 waterfront. Design was a collaboration between Nikken Sekkei and the American firm Mancini Duffy Associates; construction was carried out by Toda Corporation. The hotel contains 594 guest rooms, with views of Yokohama Harbour and Yokohama Bay Bridge from most floors.

The tower’s defining feature is its façade. The form evokes a sail filled with wind: a triangular cross-section that widens as it climbs, sheathed in metal panels and glass that shift in tone with the changing light. Unlike the vertical straight lines of most office towers, the curved profile gives the building a silhouette unlike anything else on the Yokohama skyline.

Opening at the Start of Minato Mirai

When the hotel opened in 1991, the Minato Mirai 21 development was still in its early stages. The building was planned together with the Pacifico Yokohama convention centre, conference facilities, and exhibition halls that occupy the same precinct, establishing Yokohama as an international convention city from the early years of the district.

Yokohama Landmark Tower opened next door in 1994, completing the skyline that has since become iconic. At 140 metres the InterContinental is far shorter than its neighbour at 296 metres, but the sail shape ensures it remains immediately recognisable. Viewed from the harbour or from Rinko Park to the east, the two towers frame a waterfront panorama that has become Yokohama’s most-photographed view.

Summary

Yokohama Grand InterContinental Hotel was completed in 1991 to a height of 140 metres. Its sail-shaped façade, designed by Nikken Sekkei and Mancini Duffy Associates, has shaped the Minato Mirai waterfront for over thirty years. Whether approached by boat, from Rinko Park, or on foot from the Landmark Tower plaza, the white sail in the harbour rewards a close look.

Related buildings: Yokohama Landmark Tower / Yokohama Island Tower

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