Mitsui Fudosan Offices – Tokyo
I IN has achieved the office design for Mitsui Fudosan, a major real estate developer, located in Tokyo, Japan.
A new type of office space by Mitsui Fudosan used by company members for various independent projects. The concept was to combine the new feeling of the future with the relaxed feeling of spending time at home. I IN designed a new space where the seemingly contradictory elements of coexisting, to give the space a permanent charm that never changes. By reconstructing light, modeling, materials, and the way people spend their time, we aimed to create an office space with a comfortable place to go, while showing a new outlook on the future.
Different office style was required for the design of the new business of the well known Japanese company. The space had to differ from the usual office space, where usual atmosphere would be for the people to work at their desk. In the context of several projects and group of people working together at the same time, the aim was to make people from different teams feel like sharing a single space. The entire office is a large open space with a large sunken sofa area that is positioned in the center, where the workers can spend their time as they like and work as they prefer – either on the large sofa, desk area or corner coffee table with a view of the city.
The point was to create an office where people can truly relax and spend their time in freedom, in the essence of feeling in their own house which was taken into inspiration and applied to all common spaces, such as living or dining environment. To create a place, where people can feel the future, technology in the interior that embraces everyday life has been used as a way of expressing newness. In a space filled with natural light, the high-resolution, high-output images flowing in the center of the office add a sense of light to the space. By blurring the boundaries between the image and the reality, I IN aimed for an expression that symbolized the true future. The walls, pillars and kitchen counter are finished with a plaster material with a soft texture, adding gentle atmosphere to the space, while emphasizing the boldness of the solid materials.
Custom-designed desks and sculpturally-shaped dining tables, create a pleasant contrast with the wall finishes with close feeling to the human touch. In contrast to the open space, the meeting room, which is surrounded by a plastered curved wall with soft shading, the space is much more quiet and the design reflects its’ calmness. Through the glass, using characteristic color gradation, slight colored light flows into the room. By rebuilding light, shape, materials and the way people spend their time at work, the whole office became a comfortable space, while presenting a new view of the future.
Design: I IN
Photography: Tomooki Kengaku