JAPAN'S BEST-DESIGNED OFFICESConcept
Four names that are not English and not quite Japanese
The floors are laid out as a set of named rooms, and the names are the point. PLAZA is the multi-purpose area. OASIS is the library. GARDEN is the café. And AJITO is the bar — ajito, a word Japanese took from the Russian agitpunkt and turned into the word children use for a den.
A holding company assembled out of several advertising and media businesses has a particular problem: the people in it did not choose each other. Giving the shared rooms names that anybody can say, rather than numbers off a plan, is the cheapest available way of making a single address out of several companies. The entrance sets the tone — a long curved white wall that bends you round the corner before the floor opens up.
01 · The entrance
A curve, then the floor
The entrance is a long white wall curved in plan, so that the working floor is not visible until you are round it.
02 · PLAZA
The room that is not for anything in particular
PLAZA sits under a ring of light and takes tables, plants and loose seating — the multi-purpose room, kept deliberately unassigned.
03 · OASIS and LAB
Books, and rooms for visitors
OASIS is the library: shelves on two levels with reading seats built against them. LAB is the set of meeting rooms kept for people from outside.
04 · AJITO and GARDEN
A bar, and a café
AJITO is the bar — dark red chairs, a low ceiling, the city behind the glass. GARDEN is the café, with a serving counter and planting along the edge of the floor.
05 · STUDIO and the working floors
Where the broadcasting happens
STUDIO is fitted for livestreaming. The main floor is open desking, with the atrium cutting through it and open meeting rooms set along the glass.
