Sony Biz Networks — Shibuya: the rooms are named after the streets outside

Concept

An office named after the map outside the window

Sony Biz Networks sits above Shibuya, and rather than number its rooms it has borrowed the names of what is below. The co-creation space in the middle of the floor is Scramble Crossing — the point where different departments mix, which is exactly what the real crossing does to pedestrians. The huddle area is Dogenzaka Avenue, laid out, the company says, in the style of a family restaurant. The 23rd-floor meeting room is Mark City, after the building itself.

The naming is charming, but the more unusual fact is how the office was made. The project team was assembled by open call inside the company, worked across departments and, the company states, regardless of year of entry. The brief they set themselves was not about square metres: it was that people should be able to be themselves and stay healthy here — physically, mentally, and in their relationships and their way of working.

01 · The entrance

The name, in the dark

The entrance on 19 is glazed to the lift lobby, with the mark set against a dark wall beyond.

02 · Terminal

Big enough to broadcast from

Terminal is sized for events and seminars, and is used for broadcast events as well as internal ones.

03 · Scramble Crossing

The junction

The co-creation space at the centre of the floor is where departments mix — the company’s own name for it is the crossing inside the office.

04 · Dogenzaka Avenue

Family-restaurant seating

The huddle space takes the booth-and-table arrangement of a family restaurant, so that a team can drop into it without booking.

05 · Phone Booth

Two kinds of quiet

Semi-private booths come in two sorts: those set up for online meetings, and those placed where the whole of Shibuya is visible.

06 · Mark City

Twenty-three, looking south

The 23rd-floor meeting room carries the name of the building. The view runs towards Ebisu, Daikanyama and Nakameguro.