October 2018, SUMMARY

SHOTENKENCHIKU is monthly magazine of Japanese interior design / store design / commercial architecture


 


FEATURE ARTICLE/OFFICE

METLIFE INSURANCE HEADQUARTER OFFICE TOKYO GARDEN TERRACE / OLINAS TOWER

(Page 54)



Japanese headquarters of MetLife, a famous life insurance company, is composed of an office on the 13th story of Olinas Tower and other one on the 3rd story of Tokyo Garden Terrace. Two of them integrated seven separated bases. The environmental design theme is “Bringing Our People Together”. They created three types of sharing spaces in both offices: The Square, The Club, and The Neighborhood, for people to work comfortably.
Those sharing spaces urge people to communicate each other including partners from outside corporations. A cafe on top floor lets people enjoy fireworks show during summer, a pantry is shaped like a traditional tea ceremony room, and a meeting space reminds us of an irori, a Japanese sunken hearth. An overall impression is somewhat Japanese taste showing human touch.
Designer : GARDE + Nikken Sekkei

 

 

FEATURE ARTICLE/OFFICE

TABILABO

(Page 80)


photo / Nacasa & Partners


TABILABO is a company running life-style internet media, brand communication and planning events and advertisement. This new office of the company embodies their policy and work style. The offices occupy from the second to the fourth story of a building.
The second floor is composed of big kitchen and an open space for anyone, offering lectures and exhibitions. The third and fourth level is working space. Interestingly, some furniture of this project is made by designers with the company employees. The design looks unfinished in a sense, for it represents company policy that finish should be done by TABILABO.
Designer : Puddle
 

 

FEATURE ARTICLE/OFFICE

KOKUYO SST

(Page 100)



KOKUYO last year opened a new central office in Shinagawa, one of Tokyo metropolitan areas, unifying separate bases in various places into one entity to set up new optimum work style of business sector. Division of stationery, furniture, and corporate staff make one office on a story. Upon an environmental design concept of “ONE STROKE, NO LOOP, NO END”, the new office lays an environment to enjoy state of flux, with communications and up-grading. The company aims that in this office staff will speed up problem solving, enhance creativity and teamwork. The office focuses on openness, migration, and symmetry. People are free to choose their place and to meet in this wall-free symmetric space. A conference room does not have any walls. Working space is symmetric and flexible so that they can make various layout for organizational changes.
Designer : KOKUYO

 



FEATURE ARTICLE/OFFICE

KOKUYO DIVERARY

(Page 108)



DIVERARY, an employee only lounge is located in KOKUYO’s Shinagawa office and it makes them face tasks and absorb in solving problems. DIVERARY is a coined word combining “dive” and “library”. Contrasting with KOKUYO’s new office KOKUYO Shinagawa SST office based upon a theme of “enhance of sense of belonging to the company and acceleration of resolving management issues”, this lounge is a space for each employee to thing by oneself to focus on each issue. Front covers of some nine hundred various books on the bookshelves stimulate people into creative activities.
Designer : KOKUYO

 

 

FEATURE ARTICLE/OFFICE

KINTO

(Page 136)



This is the headquarters of KINTO, a company that produces table-kitchen-ware and interior goods. Simultaneously they built a new warehouse and renovated an old one. The headquarters, located in the center of the company site, is a simple steel construction with a cantilever-roof over a courtyard. The site composition aims that workers in different sections and visitors can interact one another freely. The ground floor of the headquarters also has a meeting space for people to come up with ideas. The second floor, which can be accessed from the outside stairs, is a multi-functional space for resting, communicating, and presenting something.
Designer : INTENTIONALLIES

 



SPECIAL FEATURE 1

Commercial Environments of Takashi Sugimoto, the 2nd part

(Page 159)


Takashi Sugimoto died in April. He was one of the most influential front runners of interior design in Japan. He has been active at work and leading the industry with his company Super Potato, producing a lot of masterpiece projects, since he graduated from the university in 1968. This article includes a photographical chronological table covering his works from 1990 to 2018, which clearly tells us his career development from small projects to large-scale facilities like overseas hotels. He, on the other hand, as a of teaches at Musashino Art University and his successors talked here his episodes. Here are interviews to a lot of persons concerned and clients of famous bar Radio, MUJI, HYATT etc.
Those staff profile Sugimoto’s life, work, and legacy for the future generation.

 

 


SPECIAL FEATURE2

SOUND SPACE DESIGN

(Page 187)



Acoustic sense unconsciously picks up sounds and people are always influenced by sounds of environments, except being stucked by earphone or something. This featured article focuses on spatial design introducing sound design effectively. Through interviews with sound designers, you can get how they contribute to environments. NUBIAN HARAJUKU (P.200) uses custommade speakers, The Public stand Chiba (P.194) makes people talk even when it is very noisy. THE CELESTINE GINZA and GINZA CASITA (P.188) make you experience changing sounds.




FOCUS

MUSASHINO ART UNIVERSITY ZERO SPACE

(Page 232)



Zero Space was born as a glazed rest space for students in Musashino Art University. East-west side of the space is 35 m long glazed and is accessed from four entrances of the campass. It is also a passage for students during recess.
Big stone-shaped sofas are used to represent a motif of mobility and you can make an open multifunctional space move sofas away. A big white zero-shaped plate is hanging from the ceiling as an accent of the place where people meet with stone-shaped sofas. The place looks like a river bed with a lot of boulder stone and flows of people remind us of rivers. Sofas are soft and gently control the flow of people and make various areas, responding to any activities of users.
Designer : IGARASHI DESIGN STUDIO

 

 

 


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SHOTENKENCHIKU is the only magazine which has been dedicating to Japanese store design and commercial architecture since 1956. The magazine offers readers the very latest interior design of restaurants, hotels, fashion stores, hair salons, etc with many pictures, detailed floor plans and information of main materials. It is considered to be a must-read for architects, interior designers.  

 

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