EZOHUB is an incubation office with two locations: Sapporo, Hokkaido, located in the northernmost part of Japan, and Tennoz Isle, Tokyo. EZOHUB will be a “HUB” for the sharing and fusion of the various regional issues facing Hokkaido and the cutting-edge technologies and ideas of companies in Tokyo.

The design concept is the "landscape of EZO”. (EZO means North)
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. 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 like snow dust.

EZOHUB TOKYO has three uses: incubation office, retail PoC, and cafe & bar. 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 local 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 three uses were designed to be shared through a long counter and bookshelves. The counter is designed in such a way that visitors can walk through the landscape of Hokkaido as if they were walking through the landscape and encounter various things along the counter. At the entrance and behind the incubation lounge, visitors can also encounter artwork with motifs of Hokkaido's native animals.

In considering the design, Kokuyo aimed to maximize the design within a limited budget. Existing flooring, lighting, and equipment were utilized as much as possible. Gradation was used as a method to change the impression to the maximum extent possible while utilizing the existing materials. The key color of the gradation, “brown,” was sampled from the existing flooring.

The brown gradient was painted over the white color of the original frame. While blending in with the existing, it creates a new atmosphere and realizes the design concept of the "landscape of EZO”.

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 creating the impression of snow dust sparkling in the sky.