Pasona Group

Tokyo, Japan

Located in downtown Tokyo, Pasona HQ is a nine story high, 215,000 square foot corporate office building for a Japanese recruitment company, Pasona Group. It is a major renovation project consisting of a double skinned green facade, offices, an auditorium, cafeterias, a rooftop garden and most notably, urban farming facilities integrated within the building. The green space totals over 43,000 square feet with 200 species including fruits, vegetables and rice that are harvested, prepared and served at the cafeterias within the building. It is the largest and most direct farm-to-table of its kind ever realized inside an office building in Japan.

As a major renovation project, the existing 50 years old building envelope and superstructure had to be kept. This was a major constraint against a brief to develop all new facades, interiors and to provide a strong new identity to the building. To create depth and volume, a double skinned louvered facade housing a 3′ deep balconies were created around the perimeter for planting and farming, partially escaping through and climbing up the louvers, creating a living green wall and a dynamic identity to the public.

This was a significant loss to the net rentable area for a commercial office. However, Pasona believed in the benefits of urban farm and green space to engage the public and to provide better workspace for their employees. The balconies also help shade and insulate the interiors while providing fresh air with operable windows, a rare but practical feature for a mid rise commercial building. The entire facade is then wrapped with deep grid of fins, creating further depth, volume and orders to the organic green wall.