Shiel Tower Toyosu

Completed September 2006, this 40-story, 144.35-meter residential tower at Toyosu 5-chome in Koto City is directly connected to Toyosu Station (Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line). With 565 units, it was among the landmark towers that transformed former Ishikawajima-Harima (IHI) shipyard land into a waterfront residential district.

Use

Residential tower

Area

Koto City

Completed

2006

Floors

40 above ground, 1 below

Height

144.35 m

Developer

Toyosu Ekimae Area Urban Redevelopment Association (UR Urban Renaissance Agency)

Architect

Toshi Pro Keikaku Jimusho / Polytec-ADD / Sato Sogo Kikaku

Rising from a Shipyard Past

Step out of Toyosu Station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line and the first thing that meets your eye is the tower: 40 floors, 144.35 meters, directly connected to the ticket gates. Shiel Tower Toyosu was completed in September 2006 and developed by the Toyosu Ekimae Area Urban Redevelopment Association, with UR Urban Renaissance Agency as a participating member. The building provides 565 housing units and was constructed by a joint venture of Shimizu Corporation and Tomoe Corporation.

Toyosu’s transformation from heavy-industrial district to residential high-rise zone is one of the most dramatic land-use shifts in modern Tokyo. The area around the Toyosu metro station was part of the vast Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) complex that operated here for much of the twentieth century. As shipbuilding declined and IHI consolidated its facilities, large parcels became available for redevelopment. Shiel Tower Toyosu, completed in 2006, was among the earliest towers to claim this transformed landscape, setting a template — station-direct connection, tower form, large unit count — that later Toyosu towers would refine.

A Station-Direct Tower on the Waterfront

The direct connection to Toyosu Station is the tower’s defining feature: residents can move between their apartment and the train without stepping outside. This convenience, rare even in Tokyo’s tower-saturated market, contributed to Toyosu’s rise as a desirable inner-city residential address. From the upper floors, the view encompasses Tokyo Bay, the Koto Ward waterfront, and on clear days the outline of Mt. Fuji to the southwest.

Summary

Shiel Tower Toyosu, completed in 2006, stands 40 stories and 144.35 meters in Toyosu 5-chome, Koto City. Station-direct and home to 565 units, it was a pioneer of the waterfront residential district that now defines Toyosu. Walking the neighborhood and comparing this tower with those that came later traces two decades of Tokyo’s ongoing reinvention of its industrial waterfront.