Known as Azabudai Hills, the project has been driven by one of Japan's leading urban landscape developers, Mori Building Company, with British design practice Heatherwick Studio serving as lead architect of the public realm and the podium-level architecture. It comprises residential buildings, retail spaces, a school, two temples, art galleries, offices and restaurants – all set within 2.4ha of green, publicly accessible landscape.

The design encourages connections between commuters, residents and the public, and the 8.1-hectare district is filled with trees, flowers, and water features. Meandering routes and walkable rooftop slopes invite exploration and informal gatherings. 

Paying homage to Tokyo’s juxtaposition of old and new architecture, the design celebrates this rich mixture of urban layers and variety. Residents and visitors can come together and be inspired by a new landscape that includes extensive public gardens, a central square, and the Cloud event space. It’s now considered one of Tokyo’s greenest urban areas and continues Mori Building Company’s commitment to creating garden cities where the landscape simultaneously supports nature and people.

Throughout the 30-year regeneration of the site, Mori Building Company collaborated with more than 300 residents and businesses to bring the district to life. Over 90 per cent of the original tenants and businesses have now chosen to return to the new district.

Thomas Heatherwick, founder of Heatherwick Studio, said: “We were inspired to create a district that connects with people’s emotions in a different way. By combining cultural and social facilities with an extraordinary three-dimensional, explorable, landscape, it’s been possible to offer visitors and the local community somewhere to connect with each other and enjoy open green public spaces.”

Azabudai Hills is also said to be on track to become one of the world’s largest sites to receive the preliminary WELL certification, the highest-level LEED Neighbourhood Development certification for mixed-use developments, and LEED’s BD+C (Building Design/Core and Shell Development) certification.

As part of the development, Heatherwick Studio designed its first school, the British School of Tokyo. The design of the 15,000 sqm international school takes advantage of the local climate through a series of outdoor learning and recreational spaces across eight levels.

Neil Hubbard, partner and group leader at Heatherwick Studio, said: “Over the last ten years, we’ve tried to get under the skin of what makes something distinctively Tokyo, while at the same time adding something new that’s fresh and soft to its modern built environment. We wanted to create vistas full of variety and intrigue and spaces to explore. It’s a confluence of different families of design all brought together in one place. I can’t wait to watch people explore it.”

An estimated 25-30 million people are expected to visit the new public district every year, say the architects.