Tanseisha — Shinagawa: an office deliberately spread out

Concept

Five kinds of place, one company

Rather than ask everyone back to one address, the company set out five kinds of workplace and let the task choose. The head office is for the things that only happen where the company is — the functions and the hospitality that belong to a place. The satellites, between home and head office, are for group creative work. Home is for solo work. And shared offices bought in from outside fill the gaps between appointments.

The fifth is the odd one: Konan Lab mk_3, a studio and laboratory run by the company’s spatial-production team, where it researches and tests the craft of staging space with other companies and creators.

01 · Head office

Shinagawa, and nine other cities

The head office in Shinagawa sits at the centre of a network of branches and sales offices across the country.

02 · Satellites, and the lab

Between home and headquarters

The Shinjuku and Yokohama satellites exist for the meetings that need a room but not a commute. Konan Lab mk_3, further south, is the company’s platform for co-creation: a studio and a workshop where it tests how a space can be made to perform.