иконописfrontoffice was given a chance to move base to akasaka (an area in the center of tokyo) recently, and happy opportunists that we are we jumped.

we found a place that is becoming more and more rare in tokyo as the city continues to modernise – an old wooden house at the back of a narrow lane.  currently a tea shop inhabits the ground floor and we are on the second.  Apparently the floor was used at some point as an actual living space, but has been empty for awhile.  As living spaces go it was probably quite alright, but as an office space it needed some work as the floor plan was composed of a series of rather small rooms divided by a stairway that has not been used for at least a decade.

luckily we were given permission to do as we like with the premises and so we decided to remove all of the walls, fill in the stairs, and keep only the structure.  We now have a pretty decent space for making models and enough desk space for everyone to sit down.  This is all a very nice luxury that I hope will be the norm from now on. It is definitely a bit different kind of space but the location can’t be beat and the mix of old and new make for a nice place to work in the 21st century.

if you are in the neighbourhood don’t hesitate to drop by.  In the meantime here are some before, during and after images of the new digs.

entrance

before

demolishing walls

with the walls removed the small rooms give enough floor space to put in a desk

structure and floor are painted with waterproofing paint

note how the work desk accommodates the columns – we’re very clever that way