JAPAN'S BEST-DESIGNED OFFICESConcept
One floor, and a map to prove it
The company puts it plainly: the office is complete on one floor, and this is where the future gets changed. The page is laid out as a floor plan with numbered pins, so the office can be walked in order from one to eleven.
What fills it is talking space. Meeting booths and free space are provided in quantity, and the president’s room is stop number six rather than a corner nobody passes — its door, the company notes, is usually open.
01 · Entrance and reception
The first two stops
The entrance opens onto a corridor lined with the guest rooms, of which there are six.
02 · Meeting rooms
Stop three
The meeting rooms run along the same corridor, sized for anything from a pair to a full table.
03 · ABW and work booths
Stops four and five
The area the company calls ABW — activity based working — is window seating with a view, and beside it sit high-backed booths for work that needs quiet.
04 · The president’s room
Stop six, door open
The president’s room is glazed and sits on the same floor as everyone else. The company says the door is left open as a rule, so that it is easy to go in and ask something.
05 · Desks and meeting spaces
Stops seven to ten
The work floor takes up the centre. Around it are three meeting spaces of different shapes — a booth with green upholstery, a standing table, a pair of lounge chairs — so that the size of the talk decides where it happens.
06 · Café space
Stop eleven
The last stop is the café space, with a high counter and a coffee machine.
