Ark Hills
Ark Hills, also known as Akasaka Ark Hills is a mixed-use development complex owned and developed by Mori Building Company in the Akasaka district in Minato, Tokyo. Opened in 1986, the complex is the first and largest private urban redevelopment complex of its kind and includes the Ark Hills Sengokuyama Mori Tower, the Ark Mori Building, the ANA InterContinental Tokyo Hotel, the world-class Suntory Hall concert hall, a TV studio and several apartment buildings. TV Asahi still uses its former headquarters as an annex for some of its departments and subsidiaries while the network's headquarters themselves were moved to the nearby building designed by Fumihiko Maki in 2003. The complex is also known for its annual autumn festival known as the Ark Hills Music Week, that includes music, dancing, food, art and shopping.
Etymology
The name "Ark" is derived from the location of the complex, at the intersection of the Akasaka, Roppongi and Kasumigaseki districts. Another explanation is that the name stands for Akasaka and Roppongi knot. The complex's name also took inspiration to the land's topography as the development sits on a sloping hillside in Toranomon, giving the name hills to be added in the name of the development. The name Ark Hills also served as the foundation of other related mixed-use developments owned by Mori Building Company that bears the Hills name as part of the company's branding for its other large scale "mini-city" mixed-use development projects such as the Atago Green Hills in 2001, Roppongi Hills in 2003, Omotesando Hills in 2005, Toranomon Hills in 2014, and the Azabudai Hills in 2023.History
The Ark Hills redevelopment plan was first initiated in 1967 when Mori Building Company purchased the from various private-owned land plots. The land that used to occupy the current Ark Hills development formerly served as a densely populated hillside residential neighborhood, surrounded by various religious structures such as the Yosenji Temple and the Reinanzaka Church. On November 1969, the Mori Building Company laid out a proposal for the construction of a 33-story high-rise building planned development in the area. On March 1971, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has conducted a survey on the site for the feasiblity and suitability of the project and was later deemed as suitable for development.On May 1971, the development later encountered massive opposition from locals who reside the land, where they also place posters opposing the development. Despite the opposition, the project gained support from both the religious groups and eventually the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, yet due to the difficulty of gaining further approval from the parishioners of the Reinanzaka Church, as well as the worshippers from the Yosenji Temple and later led to the withdrawal of support of the religious organizations. The development of the project was delayed and encountered significant problems that caused problems for the construction of the complex. On April 1972, the Minato Ward drew up a master plan for urban redevelopment.
In 1973 the Minato Ward published the Basic Plan for Redevelopment, which served as the framework for the redevelopment project, and also includes the density, layout, green spaces, and zoning of the future complex. In 1978, the Akasaka-Roppongi Area Redevelopment Preparatory Association was established and on the following year in 1979, the urban plan decision was eventually announced. In 1982, the Akasaka-Roppongi Area Urban District Redevelopment Association was approved and later laid the plan for the area's redevelopment. In early 1983 the rights conversion plan was approved and later led to the construction of the complex on November 1983. The first property to be completed in the complex is the TV Asahi Arc Broadcasting Center, which was completed on September 1985, while the development of the entire complex was completed on March 1986 after 17 years with the completion of the Ark Mori Building and the Ark East and West Towers. The completion of the complex was later followed by the completion and opening of other surrounding properties within the same year, such as the ANA InterContinental Tokyo, which was opened on June 1986, and the full opening of the Suntory Hall on October 12, 1986.
In the later years after the completion of the complex, additional buildings were built within the complex and eventually expanded the development's floor area, such as the Ark Hills Executive Tower on March 1999, and was later further expanded to cater more buildings within the development. The latest of these modern developments were the Ark Hills Front Tower on January 31, 2012, the Ark Hills Sengokuyama Mori Tower on August 2012, and the Ark Hills South Tower on August 2013.
Buildings
Ark Mori Building
The Ark Mori Building is a 37-storey office building and rises at tall. Built and completed on March 1986, the tower serves as the first office tower to be completed within the complex and also as one of the country's first smart office towers and features a dual-tower configuration in its design with independent disaster prevention systems. The tower features a contemporary architectural design with its facade featuring sleek and energy-efficient windows and carbon fiber-reinforced concrete placed in vertical mullions and curved top edges. The tower also features a protruding design from the center of the tower while sharing a close resemblance to the design of the World Trade Center Twin Towers from afar. The tower also has retail, commercial and restaurant spaces on the ground floor to the third floor while the 4th floor to the 37th floor features office spaces. The tower's office tenants include the AViC Co., Ltd. and Bank of Italy both having office spaces on the 19th floor, DOCOMO Innovation Village, Roland Berger, iStyle, Impact HD Inc., Kaneka Corporation Tokyo Head Office, Japan External Trade Organization, Max Law Firm, Monex Group, ReadHub Co., Ltd., Tyton | Capital Advisors, and Works Human Intelligence Co., Ltd..The tower also features a heliport on the roof of the Building, which was used to provide direct flights between Ark Hills and the Narita International Airport, until it was discontinued on December 1, 2015.
Ark Towers
The Ark Towers are a pair of luxury residential towers located adjacent to the Ark Mori Building, the Ark Karajan Place, and the Ark Hills South Tower. The two towers are named the Ark Towers East which stands at and 25 storeys high, and the Ark Towers West rising at and 22 storeys high. The residential complex were completed on March 1986 and sits on a of land, which has a total combined unit count of 405 units split into 260 units on the Ark Towers East and 145 units on the Ark Towers West. The towers also feature serviced apartment units, a resident-only Hills Spa, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi, a sauna, a gym, a resident and guest-only restaurant and dining lounge, and an indoor golf simulator.ANA Intercontinental Tokyo
The ANA Intercontinental Tokyo is a 5-star hotel located within the northern end of the complex. Built and completed on June 1986 as the ANA Tokyo Hotel with Taisei Corporation serving as the main contractor of the project, the hotel is owned and maintained by the IHG ANA Hotel Group, a joint venture company between the ANA Holdings Inc. and the British hospitality brand InterContinental Hotels Group in October 2006. The hotel has 36 floors with 500 parking spaces spread out in 3 basement parking levels and rises at a height of, while having a total floor area of. The hotel features an "A-shared" building design with contemporary architectural styles, wherein the rooms feature an origami-patterned interiors with Japanese aesthetics, while its meeting rooms are designed with modern Japanese designs.ANA Intercontinental Tokyo has a total of 801 rooms including 30 suites and ranges from the Classic Room, the Premium Room, the Classic / Premium Club Lounge Access room, the Mizu Suite, the Sora Suite, the Tsuki Suite, the Kaze Suite, the Tori Suite, the Hana Suite, and the Miyabi Suite, which serves as the largest room suites of the hotel. The hotel also has a retail lobby at the ground floor, 12 restaurants located within the second and third floors, and 20 small to large meeting halls for various events The ANA Intercontinental also features a Concierge Gallery & Lounge with a meeting room, an open-air swimming pool, a beauty salon, a health and fitness center, the THANN sanctuary spa, the Go Salon "Ranca", and a car rental office.