Oak Lawn Marketing — Nagoya: red ceilings, a green sphere and a bowling lane

Concept

A company that sells on television, decorating like one

Television shopping is a business of held attention: a product on a bright set, a presenter, a number on screen. The offices are put together with something of the same instinct. Ceilings are the surprise — a flat red disc floats over one lounge, a red plane runs across another working floor — and the brand mark is set on the wall in three dimensions rather than printed flat.

Then there are the two things that are simply unusual to find on an office floor. One is a lane of polished timber with a ball return at the end of it. The other is a green sphere the size of a small car, planted, hanging in the middle of a white lounge with red and cream chairs arranged around it. Neither is explained anywhere on the company’s site. Both are, very obviously, there to be looked at.

01 · Reception

The mark, on red

Reception is a counter in front of a red wall with the company mark on it and low seating to one side — the only picture in the gallery where the name is legible at size.

02 · The working floor

Desks, counter seats, box seats

The company describes the seating as deliberately varied: ordinary desks, counter seats and generous box seats. In Tokyo the floor is free address, with no fixed desks at all.

03 · The red ceiling

A disc, and a plane

Two of the lounges are organised by their ceilings rather than their walls — a red disc over one, a red plane across another — with the furniture left pale underneath.

04 · The lane

Ten pins, in an office

A full lane of polished timber runs along one side of a floor, with a ball return at the end. The company does not mention it in the caption, the heading or anywhere else on the page.

05 · The sphere

Green, and quite large

A planted green sphere hangs at the centre of a white lounge, with red and cream chairs set around it. It is the second thing in this gallery that no one has explained.

06 · Meeting, and eating

The ordinary rooms

The meeting rooms are the least eventful pictures in the set — a timber table in one, a long table by the window in another — and the pantry is a run of counters with appliances on it and the brand mark above.