JAPAN'S BEST-DESIGNED OFFICESConcept
A word chosen carefully
Almost every Japanese office now has a café space. Mitsubishi Auto Leasing calls its one a kissaten — the older word, for the kind of coffee house where somebody brings the cup to the table and nobody minds how long you sit. Naming it MAL cafe and then describing it that way sets an expectation that a counter and a coffee machine would not.
The room is placed where a leasing company would normally put more desks: at the centre of a floor that has just moved into a new tower, with the city on two sides. Four floors down there is a second, larger lounge, shared with the rest of the building’s tenants and lined in timber — so the company effectively has two sitting rooms, one private and one semi-public.
01 · The entrance
Twelfth floor, kept dark
The entrance on 12 is deliberately low-lit, with lines of light across the ceiling and the company mark illuminated on the wall.
02 · The working floor
Minato, through glass
The working floor is open and glazed, looking out over Minato ward.
03 · MAL cafe
A room to think in
The company café sits at the centre of the floor, with planting, a long counter and pendant lighting carrying the company mark.
04 · The building lounge
Four, and timber
On the fourth floor, a lounge open only to the building’s occupants is lined in timber and planted heavily.
