Azabudai Hills | Pelli Clarke & Partners

Conceived as a lush, modern urban village, Azabudai Hills weaves together a dynamic mix of living, working, and leisure spaces. The project’s three towers include offices, residences, a hotel, retail shops, restaurants, and cultural facilities. Rising from the heart of the development, Mori JP Tower soars approximately 330 meters, creating a new icon on the Tokyo skyline. A first-of-its-kind regeneration project spanning nearly 30 years of planning and development, Azabudai Hills is among the largest private developments in Tokyo’s history, creating a dynamic new mixed-use district in the city’s Minato Ward.

Transforming into a modern urban village 
The 8.1-hectare Azabudai Hills site encompasses a long, narrow district running from east to west, originally broken up by the area’s natural hilly topography. The existing buildings—mostly aging single-family homes—were reaching the end of their useful life, and thus, a Category 1 Urban Redevelopment project was implemented to improve the area’s infrastructure of roads, parks, urban facilities, and disaster preparedness. The client’s vision was to create a people-centered urban paradigm where people live and work in a verdant environment. The design solution yielded three compact high-rise towers, which allowed one-third of the site area to be dedicated to green space at the street level. 

Shaping Tokyo’s skyline 
The Mori JP Tower blends technical finesse with a restrained yet elegant design approach. Clad in a distinctive pearl-gray glass facade, the tower was designed to evoke the shape and symmetry of a lotus flower, with a crown featuring four curved glass petals. The form creates a new landmark with a unique, singular, and celebratory profile on Tokyo’s skyline. Illuminated with bands of integrated lighting, the tower’s distinct form glows at night, with strands of light drawing from the street to the sky and encircling the crown. 

Signature luxury living 
The top 11 floors of Mori JP Tower are branded Aman Residences. Adjacent to Mori JP Tower, two mixed-use towers have also been designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners. Residence A, at 53 stories tall, will host 320 residential units, alongside Aman's flagship 122-key luxury hotel, Janu Tokyo. The 64-story Residence B will host 970 residential units. 

Safety and wellness in the heart of Tokyo  
The project includes approximately 24,000 square meters of green space and hosts a robust mix of public space, parks, walking paths, retail, and an expansive market hall. Azabudai Hills has received LEED Platinum Neighborhood + Development certification, making it the first property in Tokyo to receive this rating. The Mori JP Tower is poised to achieve WELL, LEED ND, and LEED BD+C certification. The towers’ design ensures infrastructure stability and incorporates earthquake-resistant technologies, applying data captured from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake to ensure greater seismic resilience. The development also includes temporary shelter space and an emergency supply warehouse. 

Lead Architects: Fred Clarke, Rafael Pelli, William Butler, David Chen, Mitch Hirsch, Gregg Jones, Mariko Masuoka, Mark Shoemaker, Graham Banks, Jimmy En-Ming Chang, Darin Cook, Craig Copeland, Peter Follett, Kristin Hawkins

Photography: Jason O’Rear

Website: https://www.jasonorear.com/