JAPAN'S BEST-DESIGNED OFFICES
Concept
Unchanging value, changing value
The office is JR East’s in-house team of engineers for new and rebuilt stations and railway facilities in Greater Tokyo and the Jōshin’etsu region. Moving into a new building, it reorganised and changed how it works.
The theme became “unchanging value and changing value”, around the company’s core of “ultimate safety”. At the entrance the fixed JR logo stands on a glass screen onto which computer-generated images are projected.
01 · Railway forest
Knotty wood, made useful
Railway forests are planted to stop snow and wind, so the trees are branchy, knotty and uneven — usually thought unfit for timber. Sourced through UCHIDA’s timber system and made into laminated wood and three-layer panels, they became tables, benches and furniture. Staff stamped the wood with an original brand at an event.
Pine piles removed during the restoration of Tokyo Station’s Marunouchi building were also put to use.
02 · Reception
Learning from accidents
The 3rd-floor reception is shared with two other organisations in the building. A history tube leads from the entrance to a library, an exhibition that teaches from past accidents, a model of Tokyo Station, graphic art and open-innovation space. One artwork says that the everyday happiness of coming home is protected by “ultimate safety”.
03 · Canteen
A hall for hundreds
One floor down are a 65-seat cafeteria and a 323-seat canteen. Part of the cafeteria is a sunken lounge pit, with a raised stage and a projection screen. Most tables and chairs stack, so the space can become an auditorium, and pins in the floor mark where they go back.
04 · Work
Free seats and a timber infill
Fixed island desks gave way to free seating. The two floors connect by an internal stair with a green refresh area at the top; a loop route runs past the windows; and a community area has a whiteboard wall for projection, beside a WooD INFILL room built of railway-forest timber.
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