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29 March 2024

A highway runs through this 16-storey tower

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The Gate Tower building in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Japan, is one of its kind in the whole world.

Japanese engineers built a road through the 16-storey tower. Now, the office block has a busy fly-over running straight through it.

The Umeda Exit of the Ikeda Route of the Hanshin Expressway system runs straight through what would have been the building's fifth, sixth and seventh floors. The highway pays the rent of those floors.

The elevator passes through the floors without stopping: floor 4 being followed by floor 8.

The floors through which the highway passes consist of elevators, stairways and machinery. The highway does not make contact with the building. It passes through as a bridge, held up by supports next to the building.

The office block is nicknamed "beehive" for its appearance as a "bustling place". The tower boasts a double core construction, with a circular cross section.

The highway is surrounded by a structure to protect the building from noise and vibration.