JAPAN'S BEST-DESIGNED OFFICESConcept
Timber, at the door of an audit firm
An audit firm’s reception is a room designed to say that nothing here is improvised. KPMG AZSA’s, on the entrance floor of Otemachi Financial City, is built around a timber structure, which the firm states is meant to fuse natural beauty with technology and to carry the quality and dignity of the brand. It is a warmer choice than the sector usually makes, and it is the first thing a client sees.
Behind it the firm does the opposite of standardise: the reception rooms are given different interiors from one another, so that a guest is not received in an identical box each visit. The working floors upstairs are free address with lockers, the café on 20 doubles as a large meeting room, and on 23 there is a relaxation room with shiatsu that the firm reports, with evident amusement, is extremely popular.
01 · The approach
Six hundred metres from Tokyo station
The office stands on Daimyo-koji, about 600 metres from Tokyo station, in a redevelopment district where new towers are still going up.
02 · The building
Thirty storeys, three parts
Otemachi Financial City runs to 30 storeys and 154 metres, divided into South Tower, North Tower and Grand Cube. The firm takes floors 20 to 26 of the South Tower and the 12th of Grand Cube.
03 · The reception floor
Timber, and a screen wall
The lobby and reception are built around a timber structure. Beyond them, a wall of moving image and a presentation room fitted with current digital tools.
04 · The rooms
A round table, and a hall
Reception rooms are given different interiors from one another. A large round conference room and a hall for gatherings and events sit on the same floor.
05 · Upstairs
Free address, and the café on 20
The working floors are free address, with lockers for personal belongings; many teams still sit together. The café area on 20 is used for coffee, for breaks and for large internal meetings.
