INSIGHTS

2019.07.29

R&D DISCUSSION Vol. 09

A workplace that fosters innovation
Changing the environment changes the way you work [Part 1]

Tetsuo Kobori Architect

R&D DISCUSSION TOP

Q: Congratulations on winning the 2018 JIA Japan Architecture Grand Prize for the NICCA INNOVATION CENTER. This is the second time the center has received this award, following the ROKI Global Innovation Center -ROGIC-, which also won the Architectural Institute of Japan Award, but both were research facilities.

A: When designing a research facility, we have many opportunities to think together with the client about the company's organizational structure, the way employees work, how to motivate them, and how to help them realize their potential. This has led me to think more about the "working" environment, such as what kind of space gives birth to ideas and what the future of workplaces will be like.

At that time, I heard that the world population may start to decline after 2050. Since the birth of humanity, the population has been growing steadily, and especially since the Industrial Revolution, it has continued to grow explosively. As you know, the population has already started to decline in Japan, but in about 30 years, a situation that has never happened before in human history, where the population has only ever continued to grow, will occur on a global scale. Currently, the issue is how to maintain the Earth in the face of the explosive growth in the world population, but what problems will arise if the population continues to decline? I have been thinking a lot recently about what will happen if the labor shortage that is currently being called out in Japan occurs all over the world. I think this story is linked to the "creating innovation" that we hear so much about these days, and that a world where humans and robots coexist, like the 2001 American science fiction movie "AI," is about to become a reality. We have come to understand that we need more problem-solving abilities, especially communication abilities and creativity, and leave the accumulation of knowledge and skills, routine work, and heavy labor to robots, and that we humans need to have more problem-solving abilities, especially communication abilities and creativity.

Some of our client companies think about things in 100-year spans, while others work hard to solve the problems in front of them. However, technology seems to change rapidly in short periods of time, every two years, so they don't really keep up with technology anymore, and they say that human (society) needs change every 10 years. Therefore, when we design, we discuss with the companies how they should think about their vision for the next 100 years and how they should change.

Q: Specifically, what kinds of discussions do you have with your client companies?

A: You may already know about the relationship between companies and innovation, but the "Innovator Theory" proposed by Professor Everitt Rogers of Stanford University in 1962 and the "Chasm Theory" proposed by management consultant Geoffrey Moore in 1991 based on this theory are well known. This is a marketing theory for the penetration of innovative products and services throughout the market, classifying consumers into five categories based on their thoughts and tendencies, and indicating the stages of diffusion. Innovators and early adopters, who like to try new things and invent new things, and who have creativity and communication skills, make up 16% of the total. It is relatively easy to diffuse up to these two stages. The next group, the early majority and late majority, are the general public, who make up the majority at 68%, and if something penetrates to this level, it can be said to be mainstream. The remaining 16% are called laggards, who value traditional customs over progress. In the "chasm theory," it is said that the hurdle to go from "early adopter" to "early majority" is the highest among these five stages, and that there is a large gap called "chasm." This can be applied to the population distribution in one company or one community. In general companies, the ratio of innovators + early adopters (16%) and the ratio of laggards (16%) are almost the same, and there is an overwhelming majority of people, 68% of people, in between. And it is said that a tremendous jump is required to go from "early majority" to "early adopter," and there is a "chasm" there. There are quite a few managers who are troubled by this, as they seem unable to make the jump unless they make a major transfer to a department or some other overwhelming incident occurs. I think that changing the space and jumping this chasm are linked. In a sense, it is similar to moving. When you move from an apartment to a detached house, you start thinking about things you have never done before. That's why I often say that "architectural projects are jumping the chasm."

Q: It is said that it is difficult for Japanese companies to succeed in innovation. What kind of organizational changes and spaces are effective?

A: A new type of organization that has been attracting attention recently is the "teal organization." There is no hierarchy such as president, department manager, or section manager, and it is a "organization like a living organism" that is connected by trust without a chain of command. It is also called an evolutionary organization where employees can play an active role with free ideas, and is often compared to the pyramid-type organizations that are common in Japanese companies, but I think there are good points in both. It is said that teal organizations are easy to produce new innovations, but the moment they realize that they are not recognized, they leave. On the other hand, pyramid-type organizations work hard to realize their ideas and have a low turnover rate. In particular, there are many "family-like organizations" that are connected by a strong sense of trust among pyramid-type companies in Japanese companies, and I think that's fine. I don't think it will change that much, and I think there is a good chance that new innovations will be born if we create an environment where various ideas can come out. So, what kind of space is needed? For example, according to research materials from the Cambridge Innovation Center, the frequency of collaboration between researchers is mainly determined by the physical distance between them. The rate of collaboration is 10.3% when researchers are on the same floor and on the same corridor. When the floors are different, that number drops to 0.3%. It's all about distance after all. I think designers need to be more honest and conscious of things like this. Is it just a matter of stacking floors because the site is small, or do we still find ways to bring people together? We designers should be more greedy for space, being aware that the output will be overwhelmingly different depending on the location.

Continued in Part 2

PROFILE

architect

Tetsuo Kobori

Kobori Tetsuo

Born in Gifu Prefecture in 1971. After completing his Master's degree in Civil Engineering at Hosei University Graduate School of Engineering (Jinnouchi Hidenobu Laboratory) in 1997, he joined Kume Sekkei. In 2008, he established Kobori Tetsuo Architectural Design. In 2017, he won the Architectural Institute of Japan Award and the JIA Japan Architecture Grand Prize for "ROKI Global Innovation Center -ROGIC-" in the same year. In 2019, he won his second JIA Japan Architecture Grand Prize for "NICCA INNOVATION CENTER". He has received numerous awards, including the BCS Award and the AACA Excellence Award. His other major works include "Showa Gakuen High School" and "Minamisoma City Fire and Disaster Prevention Center", and his latest work is "Baiko Gakuin University The Learning Station CROSSLIGHT".

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R&D

Update : 2018.09.21

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