QVC Japan — QVC Square: a headquarters built around a live TV studio

Concept

Entertainment meets business

QVC Square stacks head office and studio functions and opens them onto a central atrium to build contact and a sense of one team. See-through lifts, the studio tour and meeting rooms for suppliers all face the atrium, so visitors glimpse QVC Street — the busiest, most QVC-like place in the building.

The name comes from the square plan, which keeps the distance from one side of the building to any other as short as possible. Outside, charcoal cement panels carry colourful blinds. The building won the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award at the 26th Nikkei New Office Awards.

01 · Reception

A big Q on a charcoal box

A large QVC ribbon logo marks the charcoal exterior. Inside, a white entrance hall gives way to the colours of the atrium, where meeting rooms for business guests look straight onto the studio traffic.

02 · Workspace

Pods on an open floor

Few partitions and many departments on one floor keep the work areas open. Meeting spots called pods are scattered through them, and private booths handle focused work and video calls. The bright, colourful interior carries a message to staff: enjoy the work first.

03 · Atrium

QVC Street

A void runs through every floor — studios that broadcast live 24 hours a day, the call centre and offices — and joins them into one organisation. Where it meets the studio, it becomes QVC Street, with open terraces for conversations on the way.

04 · Cafeteria

Fuji and Skytree from the top floor

The top-floor cafeteria seats about 280 and connects to the atrium and a roof garden. On clear days, the terrace seats look out to Mount Fuji and Tokyo Skytree. Free coffee machines — the beans chosen by staff vote — and water are in every area.

05 · Welfare

Rest for a 24-hour business

A relaxation room with massage chairs and a view of the Makuhari sea is open 24 hours, alongside nap rooms and showers for people who work around the clock.

06 · How they work

Super flex and staff-made benefits

There is no core time: staff work eight hours anywhere between 5:00 and 22:00. Remote work, short hours for childcare and nursing care, birthday leave, refresh leave and volunteer leave are part of the package. Parental-leave take-up was 100% for women and 72.7% for men in the figures the company published. Clubs range from tennis and marathon to film and reading — and many of these benefits began as ideas from staff surveys.