Best Tall Building Asia & Australasia
Finalist
Mode Gakuen Spiral Towers
Nagoya-shi, Japan
M
ode Gakuen Spiral Towers is located on a
busy main street of Nagoya City in front of
Nagoya Station. The building houses three
vocational schools; Mode-Gakuen for fashion, HAL for
information technology and design, and ISEN for med-
icine and welfare.
The design of a spiral shaped building was created to
reflect the strong vision of Masaru Tani, President of
Mode Gakuen. It was thought that the unusual twist-
ing shape would promote an environment for fostering
creativity within the schools. Furthermore, the concept
for the tower is derived from the enthusiasm of the
students from the three schools, twisting and rising up
into the sky, then soaring out into the real world.
The Spiral Towers have become a new landmark for
Nagoya City. The unique design of the three wings of
the tower, twisted in helical form, appear to change
shape when viewed from different angles, giving an
elegant yet dynamic impression. In addition, a soft
silhouette of the building resembling the bottom of
a dress in 3-dimensional form brings the city a rich
image and a new face. A sunken garden was also
Completion Date: February 2008
Height: 170m (558ft)
Stories: 36
Area: 48,990 sq m (527,324 sq ft)
Primary Use: School
Other Use: Retail
Owner/Developer: Mode Gakuen
Architect: Nikken Sekkei Ltd.
Structural Engineer: Nikken Sekkei Ltd.
MEP: Nikken Sekkei Ltd.
Contractor: Obayashi Corporation
created at the bottom of the building, to connect the
underground and ground levels.
The Spiral Towers achieve high seismic capacity
through a strong inner truss tube and two vibration
damping systems that self-adjust and sway against
the movement of the building according to its natural
period; vibration-damping columns efficiently absorb
seismic energy by means of viscosity dampers which
are installed at 26 points on the periphery, and there
is also a mass damper located on the rooftop. Quanti-
tative analysis has confirmed that deformation during
an earthquake is reduced by up to 20% compared with
the non-inclusion of damping systems.
Double-glazed windows and air-flow windows are
employed to reduce heat loads created by the sun
around the perimeter zone. A District Heating System
is tapped into for both heating and cooling, with the
facility located on the near east side of Nagoya Station.
Even though the tower is spiral shaped, the structure
allows the energy supply to be distributed efficiently
and is enhanced through the use of strategically placed
inner tubes located in the center core. This concept
improves overall energy usage and upgradeability.
In addition, high-efficiency lighting equipment,
outdoor air cooling systems, and cooler fan rotation
control have been applied for energy saving. For con-
tribution to the community, a rainwater tank is located
within an underground pit to reduce the impact of the
sewerage system overspilling in torrential rains.
Opposite: View looking up at towers
twisting faade
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Finally we see a rotated tower scheme that has real
integrity. It is well planned and creatively varied in its
spatial experiences.
Gordon Gill, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

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The design was planned to optimize the pedestrian
network and spaces around the Nagoya Station area.
As a result, the streets see a unified setback to the
building walls, with vegetation planted and sidewalk
areas widened. In addition, a caf and retail stores are
placed in front of the building to activate the ground
plane, as an anticipated 8,000 students will commute
to the school and thus enliven this area of the city.
While the twisting building form is not new to high-
rise design, Spiral Towers presents a consistency and
richness in its development both structurally and aes-
thetically. The form works beyond just the sculptural
aspect when viewed on the skyline, and the program-
ming of the space within the tower is carefully planned
and organized such that the users are aware of this
twisting form, even from within.
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Jury Statement
There have been numerous proposals for ever-elaborate,
twisting towers in recent years, though few have come
to fruition. The Spiral Towers stands in marked contrast
to those hypothetical-only designs; a real, incredibly-
spiraling form standing vibrant on the Nagoya skyline.
The considerable technical innovations made to achieve
thisthe structural, MEP and cladding solutionsare
only part of the story. In a world of tall buildings
dominated by oce, residential and hotel functions, this
building innovates radically with program, incorporating
three educational-school facilities harmoniously into
its twisting high rise form. The result is both a stunning
skyscraper sculpture in the urban context externally and
a series of unique and dynamic spaces internally. This
building really does shine a beacon of light for those
numerous twisting tower proposals yet to come to
fruition around the world.
Left: Overall view from south
Right: Tower at ground plane with
open air basement connection
Opposite Left: East elevation
Opposite Right: From top to bottom:
36th, 28th and 15th oor plans
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