Midtown Tower
Encyclopedia
is a mixed-use skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

 located in Roppongi
Roppongi
is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous as home to the rich Roppongi Hills area and an active night club scene. Many foreign embassies are located in Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike...

, Minato, Tokyo
Minato, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 1 March 2008, it had an official population of 217,335 and a population density of 10,865 persons per km². The total area is 20.34 km².Minato hosts 49 embassies...

. Completed in 2007, it is the tallest of the six buildings located within the Tokyo Midtown complex, and at 248.1 metres (814 ft), it is also currently the tallest office building in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. The building is home to numerous companies and The Ritz-Carlton
Ritz-Carlton
The Ritz-Carlton is a brand of luxury hotels and resorts with 75 properties located in major cities and resorts in 24 countries worldwide...

, Tokyo.

Construction

Located at the center of the Tokyo Midtown development, Midtown Tower is the tallest of the six buildings located within the complex. At 248.1 metres (814 ft), it's the current tallest building in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 and has held this title since the building's primary construction was completed in January 2007. Its official grand opening was on March 31, 2007, though the offices had been open since February. The building was designed by Chicago-based architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP is an American architectural and engineering firm that was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John O. Merrill. They opened their first branch in New York City, New York in 1937. SOM is one of the largest...

 with help from Nikken Sekkei Ltd.
Nikken Sekkei
is a Japanese architecture firm headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo.-External links:*, official site...

 and built by the Takenaka
Takenaka Corporation
is the biggest architecture, engineering, and construction firm in Japan. Its headquarters is in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture.The company's website also claims it to be the oldest firm of that type anywhere in the world, since the demise of Kongō Gumi which was substantially older...

 and Taisei Corporation
Taisei Corporation
is a Japanese corporation which was established in 1873. Its main areas of business are building construction, civil engineering, and real estate development....

s.

Facilities

As a mixed-use facility, Midtown Tower's 54 floors are utilized in different ways. Several conference rooms occupy the entirety of the 4th floor. The 5th floor is the home of the Tokyo Midtown Design Hub, a gallery and space for exhibitions, collaborations and discussions by designers. Tokyo Midtown Medical Center is located on the 6th floor. This medical facility first Japan-based collaboration with Johns Hopkins University. Unlike similar supertall skyscrapers in the area such as Roppongi Hills
Roppongi Hills
is a New Urban Centre and one of Japan's largest integrated property developments, located in the Roppongi district of Minato, Tokyo.Constructed by building tycoon Minoru Mori, the mega-complex incorporates office space, apartments, shops, restaurants, cafés, movie theaters, a museum, a hotel, a...

 Mori Tower, Midtown Tower's top 54th floor is not a visitors' observation deck
Observation deck
__FORCETOC__ An observation deck, observation platform or viewing platform is an elevated sightseeing platform usually situated upon a tall architectural structure such as a skyscraper or observation tower...

. Instead, the floor houses building components and maintenance facilities.

Office tenants

Floors 7 to 44 are designated as commercial office space and house the offices of (among others):
  • Cisco Systems
    Cisco Systems
    Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...

  • Fast Retailing
    Fast Retailing
    is a Japanese retail holding company. In addition to its primary subsidiary Uniqlo, it owns several other brands, including Aspesi, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Foot Park, g.u., Princess Tam-Tam and National Standard....

  • Herbert Smith
    Herbert Smith
    Herbert Smith LLP is an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm has offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith and today has 240 partners and 1,300 fee-earners.-History:The firm was...

  • Hudson Soft
    Hudson Soft
    , formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...

  • Nikko Asset Management
  • State Street Bank
  • Yahoo! Japan
    Yahoo! Japan
    is a Japanese internet company formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! and the Japanese internet company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Midtown Tower in the Tokyo Midtown complex in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo.-History:...


Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo

Floors 45 to 53 are home to Japan's second Ritz-Carlton
Ritz-Carlton
The Ritz-Carlton is a brand of luxury hotels and resorts with 75 properties located in major cities and resorts in 24 countries worldwide...

 hotel—The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo. This 248-room hotel offers many notable features including Japan’s most expensive Presidential Suite, available for $20,000 per night, and an authentic 200-year-old Japanese teahouse. Designed by renowned interior decorator Frank Nicholson, The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo reflects classic European inspiration fused with contemporary accents. Four works measuring 8.1 meters in height by American painter Sam Francis
Sam Francis
Samuel Lewis Francis was an American painter and printmaker.-Early life:...

 appear in the building's lobby, that, along with the second and third floors, is utilized by the hotel.

See also

  • Tokyo Midtown
  • List of tallest buildings and structures in Tokyo

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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