Good Ethical Office Our Offices That Embody “Good Ethical Company”

Completely Renovated into “Good Ethical Office That is Friendly to the Earth, People and Society”

SEMBA promotes Ethical Design which aims to co-create a better society throughout the entire supply chain, with “compassion” for people, the local society and natural environment. As a framework for the Ethical Design, we propose “Circular Renovation®,” which creates new value by recycling “resources to use” and “resources to dispose”. By providing total designs based on reuse and recycling, while utilizing our experience in handling from demolition to design and construction, we realize a circular spatial creating, considering the next renewal, as well as minimizing the amount of waste.

In the renewal project, we especially focused on a design based on “demolition”. We are committed to reuse and recycle resources, and for the renewal of the head office in 2021, we achieved a waste recycling rate of 99% and reuse 80% of existing furniture. We circulated the resources used in the space; we upcycled office furniture and fixtures that had been used before the renovation, used material samples, and waste materials from construction sites, into furniture and artworks, and also created space for refreshments and in-house events by stacking unneeded desks and wagons.

Designers of our company themselves constructed their office, so that we realized the designs that were based on demolition at the design stage. The project was not limited to “how much environmentally friendly materials we can use”. Each employee thought about “how to continue to use the space while changing its forms to meet our needs” from their own perspective, so that we realized the new space creation considering the future.

• 01Significance of promoting the Ethical Design

  We have extended our consideration and compassion for “people”, that we have accumulated, to the local community and natural environment, and aims to create “friendly spaces” that realize all forms of coexistence between “people and people” and “society and the natural environment”. “Ethical Design” is one of these efforts, and it is an initiative with social significance that leads to solutions to the issues that society faces. In the era, where the innate value of not burdening the earth is emphasized, we make proposal that satisfy sustainability and design, based on ethical thinking. By renewing the office as a place that embodies our Ethical Design and communicates it internally and externally, we also aim to strengthen ties with companies that share the theme- and efforts we promote. We cannot solve social issues by a single company. We can only solve them by expanding a circle of efforts. We hope that many companies will make use of our technology and know-how that we have cultivated, and we will lead to create future-friendly spaces.

• 02Creating Spaces Based on the Concept of “Hackable Design”

  In order to realize “Hackable Design,” we designed the office that allows workers a high degree of freedom in choosing their own working space and style. We broke away from the typical Japanese style; the homogeneous, parallel, fixed-seat configuration. It also supports a free-address system that allows employees to work at their preferred seat, and provides a variety of places for team meetings and concentrated solo work. In addition, to stimulate the sensitivity and imagination of employees engaged in spatial design, the workspace is studded with experimental elements that they can try and reshape. In an age when people can work from anywhere, we have created a new value for offices: the “hub office”.

  The head office

  

  Collaboration

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  Collaboration

  Collaboration area for visitors, partners and employees. It is also used as a working space for ABW, including meetings, showroom, café, and internet distribution. We set upcycled furniture and original materials made from employees’ ideas to share and communicate SEMBA’s Ethical Design.

  

  Material

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  Material

  A place to stock information on materials in general. This is a place where you can check the selected materials and new information, as well as the combination of real samples. Currently we are also displaying Ethical Materials.

  

  Prototyping

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  Prototyping

  A place where you can try out your ideas. We have tools and equipment for making models and simple prototypes. We believe that it is also important to think while touching actual things.

  

  Project

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  Project

  A place where members of a project team can gather and work when the team is launched. They can rent also for a period of time, and can work there for short-term intensive competitions while keeping the materials lined up.

  

  Library

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  Library

  A place where employees can share books and discover new ideas. It is also used as a place to share information such as brochures and facility information.

  Kansai office

  

  Welcome gate (Hospitality space)

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  Welcome gate (Hospitality space)

  A space to welcome visitors and partners. We set the display wall for Ethical Materials in the front, and a library space displaying catalogs of various companies in the back.

  

  Cafeteria（Communication space）

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  Cafeteria（Communication space）

  A spacious café space with bench sofas upcycled from desks no longer needed as part of the office renovation. It is a place not only for clients, but also for employees to communicate with each other.

  

  Brainstorming area

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  Brainstorming area

  A space where we create ideas with clients. We can freely exchange ideas and hold meetings in an optimal space created by freely moving a steel structure that can be reconfigured.

  

  Refresh area and big meeting space

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  Refresh area and big meeting space

  A big meeting space for large-group meetings to review drawings with a large digital monitor. We plan to furnish with furniture prototypes developed in collaboration with Hidakuma, or other partners.

  

  Workshop (Collaborative Creation Area)

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  Workshop (Collaborative Creation Area)

  A creative space where employees, clients and partners can examine materials and discuss. We can also hold workshops and other events.

  

  Creative Lab.

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  Creative Lab.

  We created an easily accessible symbolic location in the center of the office, to facilitate conversation.

  

  In-house brainstorming / Casual meeting

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  In-house brainstorming / Casual meeting

  A space for focused discussions and meetings with multiple people. We can also use as a break space during lunch time.

  

  In-house meeting

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  In-house meeting

  Semi-private meeting spaces.. We use them for internal meetings that do not require a completely private room, or for meetings attended by multiple people.

  

  Individual workspaces

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  Individual workspaces

  A individual seating spaces by the window where you can work while looking out. We can use them for remote meetings or concentrated work.

• 03Upcycle Existing Fixture

  We add new value to unneeded fixtures, such as desks and wagons. In contrast to the old method of throwing away items that are no longer needed and buying new ones, upcycling allows the resources used in a space to be circulated.

  The head office ／To embody ethical design, we utilized the fixtures in their original form to convey a strong message.

  

  Desk wagon bench

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  Desk wagon bench

  A bench made of desk wagons left over by changing our office into non-territorial office. When we remove the cushions, the desk wagon reverts back to the original desk wagon.

  

  Steel Rack Table

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  Steel Rack Table

  A table made by joining steel rack shelves left over by changing our office into non-territorial office.

  

  Sample material bench

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  Sample material bench

  A bench made by layering and binding cut samples. We utilized sample building materials that we needed in large quantities during the planning and design stages but discarded after material confirmation.

  

  Mambo tables

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  Mambo tables

  A table made by combining shock absorber materials for forklifts, that were to be discarded in the construction site.

  

  Safety Cone Bench

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  Safety Cone Bench

  A bench made by combining safety cones, laminated wood, and cushion heartwood that were scheduled for disposal in the construction site.

  

  Sample Material Counter

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  Sample Material Counter

  A counter made by stacking carpet sample materials, placing and fastening acrylic panels on top.

  

  Junk art

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  Junk art

  Artworks created by combining and recycling waste materials that had been discarded as garbage.

  

  Gift from Forest of Hida

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  Gift from Forest of Hida

  Furniture made of the bent wood of the Betula grossa. We set it in the collaboration area as furniture that appeals the possibility to create new value while staying close to nature.

  Kansai office　／By upcycling scrap materials, we designed the office that gives new life to them while preserving their original appearance, and gives a sense of smiling warmth and diversity.

  

  サイドテーブル

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  Side tables

  Benches and side tables made of cabinets left over from the office.

  

  Stools

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  Stools

  Stools made of debris bags and temporary fence sheets. We use safety belts that were to be disposed of due to a change in standards as a band.

  

  Material samples

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  Material samples

  We pasted unneeded material sample scraps on blindfold panels to create a colorful space.

  

  Junk arts

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  Junk arts

  Artworks made by combining scrap material that used to be thrown away as garbage into the shape of animals.

• 04“Link,” a Research Project Examining New Possibilities for Scrap Materials

  In collaboration with we+ inc., a contemporary design studio, we conducted a research project to seek to create new value from discarded building materials. We found it strange that the life span of commercial spaces from construction to demolition and disposal is very short, and launched the project. We took apart the waste building materials generated during demolition, as well as sample building materials generated in large quantities during the planning and design stages, reconstructed them and produced original materials. By deconstructing and reconstructing building materials that have lost their original function, we aimed to bring out a different kind of appeal, and to continue to pass on the memories of the space and the atmosphere that the place used to have as new materials.

  

  

  

  Photo: Masayuki Hayashi