Shinjuku Nomura Building

Recognizable by its crown, a 50-story, roughly 210-meter office building in West Shinjuku.

Use

Office tower

Area

Shinjuku City

Completed

1978

Floors

50 above ground, 5 below

Height

209.9 m

Developer

Nomura Real Estate / Kumagai Gumi

Architect

Yasui Architects & Engineers

A building told apart by its crown

Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku City, Tokyo. In a corner of the subcenter lined with skyscrapers, an office building of 50 floors and a height of about 210 meters was completed in 1978. This is the Shinjuku Nomura Building. Built by Nomura Real Estate and Kumagai Gumi, it is known as one of the buildings making up West Shinjuku’s high-rise district.

Among the many rectangular high-rises of West Shinjuku, this building has a distinctive treatment at its crown, making it easy to identify even from a distance. It plays a role in the cityscape as a clue for telling buildings apart amid the cluster of towers.

As an achievement of rapid growth

West Shinjuku, with the redevelopment of a former water-plant site as its trigger, saw skyscrapers accumulate throughout the 1970s. The Shinjuku Nomura Building was one of the towers raised in that period, and can be seen as one expression of the construction technology and urban development of the time.

Several basement levels, together with its 50 floors above ground, make for a design that uses a limited site fully in three dimensions. The thinking behind subcenter development — stacking urban functions vertically — is clearly expressed here.

Summary

The Shinjuku Nomura Building is an office building completed in 1978, with 50 floors above ground, 5 below, and a height of about 210 meters. Born of development by Nomura Real Estate and Kumagai Gumi, it stands as one building representative of the era when West Shinjuku grew into a high-rise district.

When you look up at the buildings in West Shinjuku, pay attention to the shape of each crown. Even among towers of similar height, the individuality of each one comes into view.