Yokohama Island Tower

Completed in 2003 in Kannai, Yokohama, this 27-storey, 119-metre office tower wraps around and preserves the 1929 Dai-Ichi Bank Yokohama branch — a rare example of a heritage building fused into a modern high-rise, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki.

Use

Office tower

Area

Naka Ward, Yokohama City

Completed

2003

Floors

27 above ground, 3 below

Height

119 m

Developer

Urban Development Corporation (now UR Urban Renaissance Agency)

Architect

Fumihiko Maki (Maki and Associates)

A 1929 Bank Held Inside a 2003 Tower

Walking through Kannai, the old commercial district south of Yokohama Station, you encounter a strange and pleasing sight: a colonnaded stone building from the 1920s nested within the base of a glass office tower. Yokohama Island Tower was completed in 2003, rising 27 storeys to 119 metres above ground. Designed by Fumihiko Maki — recipient of the 1993 Pritzker Prize — and developed by the Urban Development Corporation (later reconstituted as UR Urban Renaissance Agency), the tower is built around the preserved shell of the 1929 Dai-Ichi Bank Yokohama branch.

The historic building, constructed in a classical Western style during the height of Japan’s interwar modernisation, was left intact rather than demolished. Its lower floors were restored and integrated into the new complex; the high-rise rises cleanly from behind and above it, without competing with the older facade. Since opening, the tower has served as the headquarters of UR Urban Renaissance Agency, one of Japan’s largest public housing and urban development bodies.

Heritage and Height in Kannai

The Kannai area carries a density of historical layers unusual even for Yokohama. The city opened to foreign trade in 1859, and the surrounding streets still hold buildings, warehouses, and civic structures from successive eras of expansion. Placing a 27-storey tower here while retaining a 75-year-old bank building was not merely a gesture of sentiment — it was a considered urban design decision about how a historic streetscape should evolve.

Maki’s approach to the high-rise portion is characteristically restrained. The tower does not announce itself loudly against the low-scale surroundings; its profile is clear and geometric, its relationship to the preserved facade measured. The contrast between the stone colonnade below and the glass curtain wall above is visible from across the street and reads as a deliberate dialogue rather than an accident of planning. This stands in productive contrast to Yokohama Landmark Tower, a few kilometres to the north-west, which was built on cleared land and reaches for maximum presence.

Summary

Yokohama Island Tower was completed in 2003 as a 27-storey, 119-metre office building designed by Fumihiko Maki. It preserves and integrates the 1929 Dai-Ichi Bank Yokohama branch within its base, making it one of Japan’s clearest examples of heritage-inclusive high-rise development. Home to UR Urban Renaissance Agency, it anchors the Kannai business district and rewards a close look on foot — the transition from historical masonry to modern glass is best read at street level.

Related buildings: Yokohama Landmark Tower / KDX Yokohama Minatomirai Tower

Looking for a hotel in Yokohama? Browse options on Booking.com.