JAPAN'S BEST-DESIGNED OFFICESConcept
A bar with a job description
Most offices that install a bar install it as a perk. Kitanotatsujin gives its one a stated function, and the function is recruitment: the Kitatatsu Bar is described as being for interaction between departments and for meeting people the company is hiring.
That is a more honest account of what these rooms are for than most companies offer, and it changes how the rest of the floor reads. The entrance is soft — curved white reception furniture, planting, glass. The corridor beyond it is a run of arches, which is a domestic gesture rather than a corporate one. The working floor is cut through by a curved band of green. All of it is designed to be walked through by somebody who does not work there yet.
01 · The entrance
Curves, and planting
The entrance is glazed on two sides, with curved white reception furniture and planting set against it.
02 · The corridor
A run of arches
Past reception the corridor is formed as a sequence of arched openings, each framing the next.
03 · The meeting rooms
Timber, then dark
One meeting room is a pale timber table under a lit company mark; the other is a dark board room with a screen at the end.
04 · The working floor
A green band, and booths
The working floor is laid with a curved band of green running through it, with booth seating, planting and a counter along the window.
05 · Kitatatsu Bar
Open at six
The bar is a dark room with a long counter and a lit sign, stocked with drinks and free to everyone from six in the evening.
