SNA (Tokyo) — An innovative high-rise built partly of timber will soon go up in central Tokyo. Tokio Marine Holdings, a multi-national insurance giant, has recently revealed the eyebrow-raising designs for its new head office.
The timber-based high-rise will become home to the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance. As of now, both firms have temporarily relocated to another building in preparation for FY2028, when the new building is expected to be ready.
Construction of the timber high-rise is scheduled to commence in December 2024.
It is anticipated that this project will become the largest wooden hybrid structure in the world at the time of its completion, consisting of 23 floors and standing approximately 100 meters in height.
Located in the Marunouchi district between Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace, its natural aesthetic is intended to compliment the area’s prestige and elegance.
There will be a rooftop garden, decorative greenery, and a glass cube surrounding the building which changes its appearance with each season.
Italian architect Renzo Piano created the designs. Some of his firm’s previous projects include The Shard in London, a prominent glass-clad pyramidal tower, and the New York Times Building in New York.
With a goal to “use as much wood as possible,” Tokio Marine and its subsidiary have pledged to use a large amount of domestically-sourced, fire-resistant timber. This means that the wood-based building will not only possess disaster-resilient features, but also support the local timber industry.
As highlighted by the 2020 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction, 38% of the world’s total energy-related carbon emissions can be attributed to the construction sector. Homegrown wood will aid in combatting this reality as an eco-friendly alternative to more detrimental materials such as steel, according to the company.
In fact, in its press release, Tokio Marine claims that by “utilizing domestic timber… it is estimated that this wooden structure and other [carbon] reduction measures can reduce the embodied [carbon] of the building by approximately 30% compared to regular construction.”
Although not on this scale, this project is not the first in Japan to venture into the utilization of timber.
As of April, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recorded 29 planned or completed wooden buildings over six stories tall. This includes a seventeen-story office tower to be built in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district by Mitsui Fudosan and Takenaka Corporation.
Japanese architectural firm UENOA has also created an origami-style wooden office with no walls. Although not a high-rise, this is another striking example of the increasing popularity of timber construction in an urban setting.
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