Google’s company policy requires that each office reflect some of the local colour of the city around it: Google Zurich has ski gondolas, Google Pittsburgh has steel mill photos and so on. That policy results in designs that sometimes border on twee, but sometimes it ends up being brilliant in a campy sort of way. In the case of the company’s new Tokyo offices, it’s the latter.
Designed by Tokyo-based Klein Dytham Architecture, the offices are located in the Roppongi Hills complex (yes, that one), in the heart of the city. Originally, the architects proposed a colourful scheme based on traditional Japanese textile patterns — but according to them, it still wasn’t loud enough for Google. The team at KDA explains:
Google requested an even more vivid evocation of Japanese culture. Looking to communicate the Japanese context without resorting to cliché, KDA incorporated surprising elements such as a full-scale yatai (mobile food stall) and a digital koi pond that greets people at one of the entrances–responding to hidden sensors, carp projected onto the floor move towards those who enter the space as if expecting to be fed.
Other details include a kitchen walled with neon blue brushes, normally used inside of car washes, plus dozens of iterations of the Android logo — including a bikini-clad version, just for good measure. Kitschy? Absolutely. But also very fun. [Dezeen]
