INSIGHTS

2025.04.09

MEP Engineering talk. Environment and equipment idea notes Vol. 18

Taking on the challenge in a medium-sized office building
Balancing wellness and energy conservation (Part 1)

Front Place Chiyoda Ichibancho

MEP Engineering designers talk. Environment and Equipment Idea Note TOP

(Main photo: FOTOTECA)

Proposal to set a new standard for tenant office buildings

"Front Place Chiyoda Ichibancho" is a tenant office building located near Hanzomon Station in Ichibancho, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the significance of going to the office has come into question, and work styles and values have become more diverse. In this climate, we sought out a new form of tenant office building, aiming for an iconic facade that fosters a sense of belonging, an office space that gives workers choice, a spatial composition that gives workers a sense of connection to the city that cannot be felt online, and a building that makes workers healthy and is also kind to the global environment.
This time, we will introduce an initiative unique to a mid-sized tenant office that combines wellness and energy conservation.

Building exterior. The exterior design, with its impressive bay windows, is based on the concept of piled stones. The aim was to create facade would heighten a sense of belonging by showing different expressions on each floor. (Photo: FOTOTECA)

Improving wellness throughout the building

Achieving a wellness-conscious architectural plan cannot be achieved through the efforts of either the design or MEP Engineering alone. In this plan, the design and MEP Engineering worked together to create an office that takes into consideration the comfort and health of workers.

Wellness includes not only the evaluation criteria of air quality, thermal environment, water quality, and lighting environment, but also the component of promoting exercise to improve people's health. In order to encourage workers to use the stairs in the architectural plan, the common area stairwells have different signs on each floor, and an explanation of the wellness initiatives in this plan is written on them. To increase the visibility of the signs, the lighting level of the walls and floors in the stairwells is ensured. By brightly lighting the signs and stairs, the lighting plan creates an environment where workers will enjoy using the stairs more and encourage exercise.

Each floor has a different design, color, wellness components, and explanations of initiatives. (Photo: FOTOTECA)

Wellness is not just for office workers. Building managers who perform maintenance also need to create comfortable indoor spaces. To achieve both ease of working and energy conservation at the site under their management, we aimed to create comfortable spaces by implementing detailed illuminance measurements and dimming rates and controls for equipment.

The design team, the contractor, and the lighting control manufacturer verified the optimal illuminance and control settings. (Photos left and center: FOTOTECA)
(Photo: FOTOTECA)

In planning the sanitary facilities, we had multiple meetings with the architectural design team to select the faucet and counter, while also considering the ease of hand washing, in order to create a washroom booth with a high level of design. At the on-site stage, we obtained cooperation from the contractor and manufacturer and worked with the business operator to determine the optimal dimensions for installing the fixtures.

Left: A washroom in the common area on the standard floor. It combines a stylish design with functionality that makes washing hands easy. (Photo: FOTOTECA)
Right: A demonstrator was created at the field stage and multiple installation patterns were verified.

そのほか、オフィス専有部内の天井には空気式放射空調を実装し、快適な温熱環境の創出を重視しました（後編にて詳しく紹介）。
こうした「運動／MOVEMENT」「光／LIGHT」「水／WATER」「温熱快適性／THERMAL CONFORT」等のウェルネスの取り組みを評価するWELL v2認証システムにおいて、本ビルは、日本のテナントオフィスビルとして初めて、WELL Core認証の予備認証をプラチナレベルで取得しました。

  1. WELL certification primarily applies to common areas of rental buildings (buildings whose main uses are offices or stores and that are built for the purpose of being rented out).
  2. WELL Core is rated in four levels based on the score, with Platinum being the highest level.

An office space that combines flexibility and comfort

Generally, in office buildings for rent, conference rooms are installed as part of the construction work carried out when a tenant moves in, so the ceiling is designed to be divisible into a certain grid so that partition walls can be installed between them. In this plan, with the introduction of air-type radiant air conditioning, a higher proportion of air vent/radiant panels installed on the ceiling must be installed than in the case of normal air vents, so that workers can receive a uniform radiation effect regardless of the office layout, so a new method of allocating the grid was devised.

First, we decided on a grid rule to place the lighting fixture panel (equipment plate) in the center and install air-type radiant panels at its four corners. This allowed us to install the radiant panels evenly throughout the room while still allowing for the installation of partition walls in the future.
Furthermore, by arranging the lighting fixtures based on these rules, we were able to plan a ceiling layout that ensured an average illuminance of 500lx and balanced air conditioning and illuminance. Here, DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface), an international lighting control standard, was adopted. Tenants can flexibly set and change the lighting flashing divisions and dimming rates from a PC or iPad according to the layout and operation, eliminating the need for wiring work each time, lowering the costs and hurdles when moving in.

Left: Bay windows of different heights are placed around the perimeter to stimulate activity. The interior is made up of a system ceiling. (Photo: FOTOTECA) Right: The concept behind the grid ceiling.
Schematic diagram of office facilities.
Continued in Part 2

Data

Property Name

Front Place Chiyoda Ichibancho
Site area

Approx. 1,219.74 m2
scale

​11 floors above ground
Completion

September 2024
Design and Construction Supervision

Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei Inc.
location

23-3 Ichibancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Total floor area

Approximately 6,862.78 m2
structure

Steel frame
Main Applications

Offices, restaurants
Construction

Zenitaka Group

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Update : 2025.04.09

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