Audio-Technica HQ
Since it was founded in 1962 in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, AudioTechnica has grown into a global company specializing in high-performance products such as microphones, headphones, wireless systems, mixers and electronic products for home and professional use. Akasaka Yoshiaki Laboratory — the architect responsible for the company’s headquarters
in Machida-city in Tokyo, and for the interior furnishings—designed the 6,300 m2 building as a precise white shape, the exterior slopes of which reflect the surrounding mountains. One of the outer walls is set back at the ground floor, and balconies span the entire width of the building, adding to the overall impression of lightness.
Layout & furnishing
When you step into the head office’s large reception area, you are met by the essence of minimalism. The rectangular room is filled with natural light, and divided into three sections. The middle section has a lowered ceiling. From this part of the room, an elegant white spiral staircase rises to the first floor of the building.
The reception has maple parquet flooring throughout, all the ceilings are painted white, and the longitudinal walls have a raw concrete surface with visible board marks from the formwork. The pale hues and structure have been carefully combined as
the perfect backdrop for the furniture and art in the room—chosen by Akasaka Yoshiaki — which attracts all the attention.
Hans J. Wegner’s three-seater black full grain leather sofa with a stainless steel frame and the matching coffee table have been placed on a shimmering blue and gray rug designed by Akasaka Yoshiaki and made by artist and professor at Tama Art University, Tadashi Takahashi. The oil painting above the sofa, by Susumu Endo, uses the same color palette as the rug and furniture and beautifully completes the whole.
WASEDA UNIVERSITY AKASAKA YOSHIAKI LABORATORY ABOUT THE CHOICE OF FURNITURE:
’’We have used various themes in the interior of the headquarters of Audio Thechnica and one of them was ‘Scandinavia’. Furniture created by Wegner is an obvious choice, as it is not too decorative and indeed very well designed. In the lounge area on the first floor the combination of CH88 and CH338 work very well. Among the many advantages of round tables is that the lack of corners make them easy to place.’’
When you choose a product from Carl Hansen & Søn, you get more than just a piece of furniture. You will become part of a long and proud tradition of beautiful and distinctive craftsmanship where nothing is left to chance. We are the world’s largest manufacturer of furniture designed by Hans J. Wegner, and we also produce furniture created by renowned furniture designers such as Arne Jacobsen, Børge Mogensen, Ole Wanscher, Kaare Klint, Poul Kjærholm, Bodil Kjær and Tadao Ando. Carl Hansen & Søn represents more than 100 years of Danish design history, and our furniture is sold worldwide.
* Five-year warranty on indoor furniture. Two-year warranty on outdoor furniture