Marunouchi Building

The building that opened Marunouchi's redevelopment — a 37-story, 180-meter complex in front of Tokyo Station.

Use

Office tower

Area

Chiyoda City

Completed

2002

Floors

37 above ground, 4 below

Height

180 m

Developer

Mitsubishi Estate

Architect

Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei

The “Maru Building” rebuilt in front of Tokyo Station

Marunouchi, Chiyoda City, Tokyo. Facing the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station, a mixed-use building of 37 floors and a height of 180 meters was completed in 2002. This is the Marunouchi Building, commonly known as the “Maru Building.” Developed by Mitsubishi Estate, it is a rebuilding of the long-beloved earlier Maru Building and is known as the building that opened the large-scale redevelopment of Marunouchi.

Until then largely office-centered, Marunouchi began, with this rebuilding as a turning point, to change its character into a lively district that includes retail and dining. The composition of placing shops in the lower floors and offices in the upper ones became a precedent for the redevelopment buildings of Marunouchi that followed.

A base opened to the city

What this building demonstrated was a stance on how a building in a business district opens itself to the city. By providing commercial space where people gather on its lower floors, and by connecting to the plaza in front of Tokyo Station and to Naka-dori, it became a place people visit not only on weekday afternoons but on weekends too.

The name “Maru Building,” inherited from its predecessor, continues to live on as a byword for Marunouchi even though the building itself has changed. It is an example of carrying on a district’s memory while updating its functions through rebuilding.

Summary

The Marunouchi Building is a mixed-use building completed in 2002, with 37 floors above ground, 4 below, and a height of 180 meters. Born of Mitsubishi Estate’s rebuilding, this “Maru Building” became the starting point of the redevelopment through which Marunouchi changed from an office district into a lively town.

Stand at the Marunouchi exit of Tokyo Station and look up at this building straight ahead. The Marunouchi of today began right here.