JAPAN'S BEST-DESIGNED OFFICES
Concept
Take the partitions out and see what happens
The floor desks sit on either side of a central free space, and they are described in one phrase: a single-floor design with not one partition, so that people can talk to each other easily and comfortably.
Everything else follows from that. Because the desks are open and unassigned, the floor needs somewhere to concentrate and somewhere to take a call — so the quiet places are built as objects placed on the floor rather than rooms cut out of it.
01 · Central free space
Meetings at noon, lunch at one
Walk in and the central free space is the first thing you reach. It is used for internal meetings, and at lunchtime it becomes where people eat.
02 · Floor desks
Left and right of the middle
The desks run either side of that space. Free address is the norm, and meeting spots and work surfaces are scattered right through the floor rather than gathered at one end.
03 · The agile workshop
Focus boxes around a hexagon
The area the company calls the agile workshop is a set of focus boxes around a six-sided meeting space in the middle. Inside a box you can work without noticing anyone around you.
04 · Phone booths
Six of them
Six private booths on the floor take video calls with business partners and clients.
05 · Booth seats
A family restaurant, on the office floor
Beside the desks are booth seats built in wood with planting around them, used when someone wants to change the feel of the day, and also for meetings and for lunch.
06 · Meeting and rest
The rooms with doors
Proper meeting rooms, a relaxation space, and a shared area at the void that runs through every floor finish the tour.
