When Slack asked us to design their Tokyo Office, the first challenge was to translate their culture into a space that could be in dialogue with both the local and global context.
We thought that Slack space should have been a transposition of Slack digital hub into a physical space, helping people to connect with each other and with the surrounding environment, fostering communication and interactions.

We designed a space where all functions coexist in the same environment, sharing the same language, connecting the interior with the exterior, a place to enhance spontaneous communication and new ways of working. The office faces the beautiful Imperial Palace Garden so we wanted to design a place that blends into the scenery, making the lush nature of the park be part of the space. We realized this connection by using the area along the windows to create an “Engawa”, a transitional zone used in Japanese traditional architecture to connect the interior with the landscape.

It connects all the different areas, serving as the main circulation axis and lounge. The low dark ceiling makes the nature appear brighter and closer, blurring the boundaries between inside and outside and becoming a place of casual communication. The spatial concept throughout the office is a dialogue between reinterpretations of Japanese traditional elements and contemporary details, rough materials and sharp volumes, contrasts and connections with nature that define a new traditional atmosphere.