Open Innovation Biotope "Sea"

Sea, one of the co-creation spaces established by Okamura based on the concept of "a place where waves and connections are made," is a place where people who gather in Tokyo in various contexts can shed their restraints, connect with curiosity, and create co-creation. In conjunction with the relocation and renovation of the Okamura Garden Court showroom, we were in charge of construction of the design supervision and interiors construction work, and collaborated with Okamura's creative team.

While maintaining its function as a showroom with a focus on "things," the facility also needed to become a place for thinking about the future of "work," bringing together a diverse range of talent across organizational boundaries and serving as a place for "co-creation" aimed at creating value. In addition, the facility needed to create a new space where the knowledge and discoveries gained through co-creation could be disseminated to society. To address these challenges, knowledge was required from both the soft and hard aspects.

We aimed to create a new space that combines the atmosphere of a traditional showroom with the function of a co-creation space. The organic form of the standing floor base with the three-dimensional curves of the cafe counter, which is the symbol of the space, expresses "the way in which we create circles with people through various co-creations and generate new co-creations." "WORK MILL," an activity to think about and imagine Okamura's "work," is named after the idea of "looking at things from various perspectives" and "extracting value (MILL)" without being bound by the conventional wisdom of hiding the base with finishing materials. "Sea" is a space that embodies a new initiative as a place of "co-creation" that aims to create value by bringing out the value of wood without being bound by the conventional wisdom of hiding the base with finishing materials.