About
frontoffice is based in Tokyo and Toronto. The office grew from the shared interests of 4 PhD students studying architecture and urban planning at the University of Tokyo. With backgrounds in real estate, urban planning and architecture, the group began their professional careers in Japan at offices including Fumihiko Maki and Isozaki Arata before coming together to start frontoffice.
Our approach to design takes many of its lessons from a deep study of Tokyo itself. The most significant challenge of our time is to creatively respond to change in the cities (and in the countryside) around the world, and we are focused on developing new ways to live in our changing environment. The architecture and urban plans that emerge from that effort do not conform to a particular style.
Always creating pragmatic and comfortable places, we are interested in architecture that builds on the attributes of its location, whether it is in the middle of Tokyo, in a village in Belgium, or the Canadian countryside. Placing innovation at the centre of our work, we are also active with digital fabrication and the circular economy. We are building with all wood structures, including large CLT buildings, and have a long history of breathing new life into old and underused buildings and areas.
backoffice
The backoffice is a think tank and research group led by our partners. We are active in business and academia, and as a collective we are quoted (or have written for) the BBC, NHK, the New York Times, and the Guardian, usually as experts on Tokyo, urban planning and resilience.
After 20 years of research and practice in Tokyo we have learned a lot about the pitfalls and opportunities of working in Japan. We are happy to share what we learned and offer services with project management, as advisors in real estate, and urban planning research. We are also happy to answer any questions about how Japan works from the media or from researchers.
Japan is not mysterious but it is not always easy to understand, and there is a lot to learn from a second look. Contact us at back@frontofficetokyo.com for more information.
Architizer lists FOT as one of Tokyo's 30 best.
30 Best Architecture and Design Firms in Tokyo
Will writes about resilience for AIA New.
Resilience in Japan
Christian Dimmer in the New York Times talking about Tokyo.
The Big City Where Housing Is Still Affordable
M house on design boom!
Check out the M House on design boom
Now on TECTURE website.
We were invited to add several projects to the TECTURE website. Japanese only (日本語のみ). Includes images not published elsewhere.
Chatting on Archinect about COVID-19
Will chats with Archinect on their always interesting podcast about being stuck in Toronto during the shutdown, teaching in Canada and Japan, and how the office is (still!) working during Covid.
Frontoffice in Toronto
A joint exhibition with Carlo Parente at the Toronto Metropolitan University Dept of Architecture Science gallery, called New Faculty in Practice.
frontoffice's partner, Christian Dimmer writes about the olympics with the BBC!
Tokyo’s incredible path to redevelopment
Jimenez Lai tokyo workshop 2019
Will invited Jimenez Lai to a workshop in Tokyo, with the expected provocative results. Check it out on our Facebook page
frontoffice talks about rendering with Kooz/Arch
A short but sweet look at the seizon project along with an interview on how we approach the presentation of our designs. Find out more onKooz/Arch
Oyamadai House Completed!
Check out the Oyamadai House on Dezeen
Will co-edits book on Resilience
Will edited a book on resilience with Professor Wanglin Yan at Keio University. Published by Springer Netherlands, it is a collection of chapters written by practitioners from multiple fields, all trying to develop a better approach to building resilience around the world.
Chatting on Archinect
Will joins the Archinect podcast to talk with its hosts about the news of the day as well as his interview with British design collective ASSEMBLE. Check out the interview too, it's inspirational!
The secret to living small in Tokyo
Small living spaces are common in Tokyo and often they are cut up into even smaller spaces. Check out our alternative solution in the Akasaka Flat , covered by Dezeen
Talking with Samira Boon
Will chatted with an great friend of the office, Samira Boon, during a vist to her studio in Amsterdam
Still city project
Christian and Will both joined in with lectures and discussion for the Tokyo Still-City Project, run by the Dutch-based think group, MONNIK
frontoffice hosts Table for 12 in Tokyo
part of the eight city tour by Canadian architecture office 5468796, aimed at finding the secret to creative design around the world. Take a look at their tokyo report for their impressions of the worlds largest megacity, and their project website for the bigger story
Kesennuma Reconstruction Project exhibits at Open Research Forum, Tokyo MidtownAn ongoing project focusing on reconstruction after the disaster in Northern Japan. We are working on rebuilding the economy, developing a new planning typology, and developing a new energy paradigm for the region.
HA Tower wins World Architecture Award!
Chicago Athenaeum and The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies selects frontoffice and the HA Tower for the global award
Still city project
Christian and Will both joined in with lectures and discussion for the Tokyo Still-City Project, run by the Dutch-based think group, MONNIK
New York TIMES
Our partner Christian Dimmer chimes in on NY times article by Hiroko tabuchi, about the Zaha Hadid Stadium proposed for the 2020 Olympics
WAN residential award
HA tower shortlisted for WAN residential award
Office Expansion
It's not the same as moving but pretty close. You can see our newly refurbished home here
yoyogi house on TV
Long running architecture program, Tatemono Tanbou, devotes episode to the Yoyogi House (Japanese)
part i
part ii
