Mitsui Sumitomo
Location: Fenchurch Avenue, London EC3M
Mitsui Sumitomo is one of the largest corporate conglomerates in Japan and one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world.
Due to continued expansion, Mitsui acquired additional space within their existing building.This new space is located on the building’s ground floor, adjacent to the main entrance and security desk. The immediate design challenge was to create a distinct identity for Mitsui whilst balancing the business’ philosophy of openness with some need for privacy. Achieving this without losing high levels of natural light and being sympathetic to the building’s character was important to both Mitsui and the Landlord.
120° desks were used and planned randomly to disrupt a very rigid building grid whilst introducing couches and low tables for informal and open meetings. The built elements were freestanding and bespoke, again sitting randomly within the overall workspace. As well as being flexible, these structures allowed for feature lighting and audio visual technology to be utilised without affecting the existing building services.
