This is the interior plan for the new office of Earth Centric Design Lab; a newly established subsidiary of TBWA HAKUHODO. The company regards the Earth as an important stakeholder, adjacent to clients and partners, and aims to shift the focus of all their designs from "human-centered" to "Earth-centered," with the desire to create an era in which both the Earth and people can prosper through creativity.

Based on the concept of "Earth-centered", we carried out a super Earth-friendly interior project that provides space and time for thinking about the Earth.

Through this Earth-centric concept, we asked how can we design space and time for thinking about the Earth? How can we carry out an ultra-environmentally conscious interior project that is thoroughly environmentally friendly throughout the entire process, from design, demolition, construction, and post-completion?

The client, designers, and contractors considered this from the early stages of the project, and worked together to materialize it one step at a time through trial and error.

The Design Conditions: 

1.       An office that fits the company concept of "Earth-centric design":

ECD regards the Earth as an important stakeholder, just like their clients and partners, and aim to shift all design from "human-centric" to "Earth-centric," creating an era in which both the Earth and people can prosper through creativity.

2.       Selection of environmentally friendly materials:

We want to use environmentally friendly materials to ensure that the establishment of a new company places as little strain on the environment as possible.

3.       Consideration of industrial waste during demolition:

We want the amount and type of industrial waste generated

during demolition to be understood and recorded, and make arrangements to reuse as much of waste as possible.

4.       A space that allows you to feel nature, even from the 9th floor:

The plants at the previous office were replaced with fake ones because of the cost of maintaining them. At this new office, they want a system that allows them to feel nature within the company.

5.       Improve the weakening of human relationships due to the spread of in-office withdrawal and remote work:

With the spread of remote work, communication within the company has weakened, so they would like suggestions that will make employees want to come into the office to work. We would like a space where you can feel the voices and presence of other people.

6.       A large space that can accommodate workshops:

ECD would like a large, flexible, relaxing space for inviting guests outside the company and for hosting workshops 3 to 4 times a month.

7.  We want to make the office accessible to the city as a gallery.

8.  We want a barrier-free office where people can bring their pets and children.

Necessary Rooms:

・           2 offices (to accommodate other companies):

can accommodate10 people each, each room is locked by SECOM

・           Workshop space: can accommodate around 30 people

・           Warehouse: for storing items used in the workshop

・           Conference room

・           Break room

The furniture and waste materials from the old office were classified into four categories: reuse in the new office, reuse in other projects, recycle as a resource, properly dispose of (through incineration/landfill), and were prioritized in that order. The three parties; clients, designers, and contractors, worked together from basic design to completion to thoroughly manage the waste materials and execute their intended reuse or disposal. The original plan was to have a zero-waste, with no materials falling into category four; disposal through incineration/landfill. However, because of a transportation mistake, wood and paper waster were mistakenly taken to the wrong location, causing them to be disposed of, and therefore the project’s intended overall reuse rate of 100% was not able to be achieved.

When designing the new office, existing plans and materials and materials were used as much as possible, with a focus on reducing waste and new purchases. In addition, the existing flooring and brick walls were not removed and discarded, but instead, a leveling paint was poured over the existing floor and the walls covered with plasterboard, significantly reducing the amount of waste. Paint, LED lights, carpet tiles, furniture, etc. from the old office or from waste materials were also reused, and new purchases/installations were selected with the goal to minimize environmental impact as much as possible.

Based on the eight design conditions, we considered the various rooms necessary for the "Earth-Centric Design Lab" and came up with a plan for six spaces that would provide space and time for thinking about the Earth.

1.       The Earth Space:

We found various maps which were created by humans looking down on the Earth and pooling their wisdom and ingenuity.

We obtained map data from ancient times to the present (and also confirmed the copyright), printed it (film print) on a transparent tempered glass table top,

and conceived a spatial design in which the light from the lighting directly above the table falls on the floor, projecting an image of the map onto the floor. During the daytime, when natural light is strong, a faint image is projected onto the floor. As it gets darker, the image of the map becomes more clearly illuminated. This change in the appearance of the space is due to the change in the natural light coming in through the long horizontal windows, making it a workplace where you can feel the flow of time throughout the day with your body as you work. We also hope that this "Earth Space" will serve as an extension of the time and space in which humanity has already thought about the Earth.

2.       ECD Entrance:

The first wall you see when you get off the elevator is painted blue, the company color. This blue paint was mixed by a painter using leftover paint cans from other sites (which otherwise would have been discarded unused). The three letters of the company logo "ECD" were created with a 3D printing material called "Shelltech". The material used for "Shelltech" is scallop shells, which are discarded as marine waste at a rate of about 40,000 tons per year. The environmental impact of storing scallop shells above ground and the need to secure a place to store them has become a social issue in the local area, so Koshi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. developed "Shelltech" to reuse them as a printing material.

3.       Polar Bear Hall:
It is expected that workshops will be held 3-4 times a month, with up to 50 people in attendance, so a large, flexible space is required. In the workshop space, which is visited by many people from outside the company every week, we placed a polar bear, a recycled art piece by Seiya Kaji, and named it "Polar Bear Hall." This life-size polar bear was made using scraps (domestic chestnut wood) generated during the production of the Earth Space tables, and will be a symbol of environmental reduction that will catch the eye of many visitors. In addition, soft drinks, alcohol, PA, DJ music, and other items are available so that people can enjoy this place at any time. This space also serves as an in-house break lounge, where people can bring their laptops and work freely, or hold meetings with a few people.

4.       Blue Counter

We named the 45m horizontal window space "Blue Counter". The long and narrow space extended from the pillars of the frame structure is a 45m long horizontal window facing south. In order to take advantage of the charm of one in three windows opening inwards for natural ventilation, we installed a counter on the inside of the window to reduce the fear of opening the window and to create a space where employees can work while looking at the outside view. Chairs are placed at one seat intervals for each window, and each employee can choose their favorite chair and grow attached to it. 

In the evening, blue lights installed on the counter are turned on (set on a timer), creating a gradation of blue light across the 45m horizontal space. This is reminiscent of the Earth's surface as seen from space, and was planned in the hope that it would provide a time for people to think about the Earth at a specific time each day.

5.       Workspace, Meeting Room

ECD's new office was expected to be used by one partner company in addition to ECD, and so two workspaces were required.

While Polar Bear Hall serves as an open space for workshops, the workspace needed to ensure security for managing important company information.

Because the thickness of the recycled laminated glass was not strong enough by current standards to prevent sound leakage, a new wooden mullion was created, glass was installed, and the SECOM card key lock that was used in the existing door and window frame was reused to create a security zone.

In addition, the workspace is to be made of recycled materials for the majority of the space, based on the concept of energy saving/reusing waste materials from demolition. The carpet tiles on the floor, the laminated glass partitions and sliding doors, the sliding door rails, the vertical bars for the locks, and the air conditioner are all reused from the office before demolition.

6.       Whole Earth Library:
This is a library where the Whole Earth Catalogue (a favorite of Steve Jobs) is displayed on the wall. The cover of the first issue (Fall 1968) was a photo of the Earth floating in space, published by NASA. This book is famous for capturing the Earth from a bird's-eye view, and as a trace of humankind's thinking about the finite global environment. We at ECD believe that this is the time and space to think anew about the Earth, and so we created the Whole Earth Library on a wall in a corner of the Earth Space.