Gate Tower Building

Osaka office tower with a highway running through it — a globally unique curiosity of Japanese urban planning.

The Gate Tower Building in Osaka is a 71.9-metre office tower with a globally unique feature: an urban motorway (the Hanshin Expressway Route 11) passes through the middle of the building — through floors 5, 6, and 7. The ramp is legally a separate owner and is acoustically decoupled from the rest of the structure. Completed in 1992, the building is a prime example of Japanese engineering ingenuity in dealing with extreme urban space constraints. Visitors can observe the quirk by riding the elevator past the relevant floors.