Roppongi Hills at 20: A Compact City Revisited

January 12, 2026

Roppongi Hills concept sketch looking North West — Roppongi Hills concept sketch of entrance approach

Introduction

It was a pleasure to revisit the Roppongi Hills mixed-use development in Tokyo during a recent trip to Japan. While working at Conran & Partners, our team designed three of the residential towers within the wider masterplan. The ground-floor retail concept was established by Jerde Partnership, while Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) led the overall ‘compact city’ vision and the Mori Tower commercial building.

Within this framework, we re-imagined the residential towers, particularly their façade strategies. As a result, each building gained a distinct architectural identity while remaining coherent within the wider development.

A Transformed Neighbourhood

Before redevelopment, the site consisted of a dense, traditional neighbourhood formed by narrow lanes and tightly packed timber houses. Many streets were so constricted that fire engines could not pass through. In addition, the district had only a single exit, which created serious safety risks.

Roppongi Hills responded to these challenges by doing more than replacing buildings. Instead, it redefined urban living in Tokyo by integrating housing, workplaces, retail, leisure, culture, and green space into a single, walkable environment.

View of Roppongi Hills Towers A & B from Roppongi Keyakizaka Dori looking East — View of Roppongi Hills Towers A & B

Designing the Residential Towers

Towers B & C

The two principal residential blocks, Towers B and C, feature red terracotta tiles, generous covered balconies, and stone-clad corner elements that emphasise their vertical form. Together, these materials provide warmth, durability, and a strong presence on the skyline.

Concept design East Elevation — Roppongi Hills Tower D East Elevation

Tower D

Tower D adopts a distinct architectural language that reflects its originally planned use for smaller apartments. Some of these homes follow the traditional tatami-mat module found in historic Japanese dwellings.

Each studio is articulated with a delicate stone waffle grid that rises to the roof, where it supports a pergola shading the communal rooftop gardens. Above, a copper-clad conical services enclosure houses the lift and stair cores. This element becomes a defining sculptural feature and animates the roofscape.

Landscaping as Vertical Garden

Landscape design played a critical role in shaping the character of Roppongi Hills. Working alongside landscape designer Dan Pearson, we helped create rooftop gardens with panoramic views across Tokyo. At podium level, layered planting forms a green, sheltered landscape of semi-private spaces for residents.

Moreover, the landscape strategy extends throughout the site. Tree-lined boulevards provide shade, soften the retail streets, and add visual richness to the public realm.

Roppongi Hills Tower D podium, intermediate and roof plans — Roppongi Hills Tower D Typical Floor Plans

Engineering & Safety: Designing for Tokyo’s Realities

All buildings were engineered to meet Tokyo’s stringent seismic requirements. The design incorporates a combination of:

Taishin – seismic-resistant structures
Seishin – seismic-damping systems
Menshin – base-isolation technologies

Used individually or together, these systems allow the towers to resist, absorb, or decouple from earthquake forces. Consequently, the structural strategy required substantial frames and close coordination with internal apartment layouts.

In addition, Tokyo’s building regulations demand robust fire-safety measures. These include multiple protected escape routes, enclosed staircases, fire-resistant construction, sprinklers, and pressurised lobbies. Integrating these systems formed a central part of the design process.

To avoid an overly dominant skyline presence, the towers were conceived as a family of related yet distinct forms, each with its own architectural expression.

View from Roppongi Keyakizaka Dori — Roppongi Hills Tower D looking South West

Sustainability Features

Roppongi Hills was advanced for its time in terms of environmental performance. Key sustainability measures include:

An on-site gas turbine system to improve energy efficiency
Wastewater recycling
Thirteen rainwater collection points across the site
Integrated solar panels

Together, these systems reduce resource consumption and support long-term resilience.

Community Impact

Land assembly for the project took 17 years, reflecting the complexity of negotiating with hundreds of landowners. Although 400 households were offered replacement condominiums, only 161 accepted. High sales values and ongoing maintenance costs priced many residents out, highlighting a persistent challenge in large-scale urban regeneration.

Typical floor plan with balconies — Roppongi Hills Tower D Typical Floor Plan

Legacy

Roppongi Hills built upon the earlier success of Ark Hills and reinforced Mori Building Company’s ‘compact city’ vision. This model, which brings homes, workplaces, and amenities together in dense, walkable environments, has since shaped Tokyo’s urban evolution.

Later developments such as Toranomon Hills and the recent Azabudai Hills scheme continue this trajectory. Azabudai Hills, masterplanned by Pelli Clarke & Partners, is further enriched by lower-level landscape and architectural interventions by Heatherwick Studio.

Collectively, these projects have reimagined central Tokyo as a greener, more integrated, and more vertical city.

Towers A, B, and D aerial view looking North West — Roppongi Hills Aerial View

References

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/18/roppongi-hills-tokyo-controversial-new-high-rise-history-of-cities-50-buildings-day-38

https://www.moriliving.com/en/sa/index.html