EZOHUB TOKYO by KOKUYO Co., Ltd. (Japan)

KOKUYO renovated the ground floor of a 40-year-old office building in Tennozu Isle, in Tokyo.

EZOHUB is a complex of retail PoC, cafe & bar, centred around an incubation office. It has two locations, one in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost prefecture, and the other in Tennozu Isle, Tokyo's business district. This location will serve as a hub for the sharing and fusion of the various regional issues facing Hokkaido and the cutting-edge technologies and ideas of Tokyo-based companies.

The retail PoC will serve as a place for incubation office tenants to conduct demonstration experiments in actual shops, while the café and bar will serve as a place for residents to relax and a spot for communication among incubation office members and between members and visitors. The fusion of the three uses was intended to create an unprecedented incubation office program.

The design concept is the "landscape of EZO”. (EZO means North in dthe ialect of Hokkaido)

As a place where various people can meet each other and where new services and ideas can be born, the richness and expansiveness of Hokkaido's landscape and the history of Hokkaido's pioneering activities are incorporated as elements of the spatial design.

The vast expanse of landscape is represented by gradations of “brown” and “mirror. The key colour of the gradation, “brown,” was sampled from the existing flooring. The brown gradient was painted over the white colour of the original frame. One of the walls is covered with mirrors, creating a horizontal expanse in a compact space. By applying a gradation to the mirrors as well, the reflected scenery becomes vaguely blurred, creating the sensation that the entire space is enveloped by the earth. All lighting in the lounge area utilizes existing. The existing lighting was partially removed while creating the atmosphere of flickering snow. The newly applied mirrored surfaces reflect the lighting, creating depth and the impression of snow dust sparkling in the sky.

The long counter connecting the three uses is made of bricks, a specialty of Hokkaido. Made of clay and mountain sand, the bricks are recyclable, and when they are finished, they return to nature. Brick is a warm material that changes beautifully with age, and the goal is to have this place continue to be used for a long time.

While blending in with the existing, it creates a new atmosphere and realizes the design concept of the "landscape of EZO”.