A sprawling city like Tokyo obviously comes with an abundance of co-working space options, but the latest Good Office outpost truly is quite a sight to behold. Surrounded on all sides by generic modern architecture, Hori Building stands out by its ‘human’ size and a refined architectural style. The four-storey building, erected in 1932 as the headquarters of locks and hardware manufacturer Hori Shoten, rightfully is a listed landmark, but interestingly, it’s unclear who the actual architect is. Hori Building is wedged in between much taller and bigger structures right at the busy intersection of Sotobori-dori and Renga-dori, and features an architecture that’s exemplary for buildings from the early Showa period. The curved façade is clad in tiles, featuring three rows of narrow windows with ornately engraved stone panels interspersed and an extended window sill which ties it all in.
The top floor is adorned by a subtle frieze stretching all the way to a quirky little tower on the building’s west side which was originally used as a fire lookout tower back in the day when Hori Building was the tallest building in the neighbourhood. Good Office Shimbashi office space measures 172 sqm. (1,851 sq.ft.), and because it’s a listed building, much of the historic interior has been retained. However, the premises also see plenty of modern interventions in order to meet today’s office requirements. The various work spaces range from a shared workspace with communal tables to office rooms, a conference room with kitchen and a phone booth in the basement which can be used for web conferencing. Last but not least, the spacious roof terrace offers a great place to blow off steam in between busy work sessions.
Good Office Shimbashi
Hori Building, 2-5-2 Shimbashi (Minato-ku)
Tokyo 150-0004
Telephone: +81 3 64034560
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
