NEC — Tamagawa: a staff canteen turned workplace, with murals painted by staff and artists

Concept

A canteen for co-creation

NEC is promoting “Smart Work 2.0”, a way of working free of time and place. After renewing the canteen at its head office as “FIELD”, it made the Tamagawa canteen a second FIELD — a place where people inside and outside the company connect across organisations.

The north wing was fully renovated, with new kitchen equipment, furniture and routes that keep people moving at busy times. In the south wing, changes were limited to some furniture and wall designs, a gradation that kept costs down.

01 · Counters

Wood, and a smooth flow

The kitchen zone keeps one colour scheme, with a different material on each wall. The food lanes keep their structure but are finished in wood, and the route from choosing to paying runs smoothly.

02 · Murals

Painted with staff

The murals are the theme “the future of NEC as we draw it”. Over four months of workshops run by Okamura, NOMAL and NEC, volunteer staff worked with the artists. “Start Line” by Mariya Suzuki came from those sessions; “A Bouquet for the Future” by WHOLE9 is more than ten metres wide; and “Journey Through Time” by Saki Tanaka in the south wing serves as the backdrop for nationally streamed events.

A long table for twenty or more is made from wooden decking damaged in a typhoon and due to be thrown away.