Martin van der Linden is the founder and principal of van der Architects a design and consulting firm based in Tokyo. WorkVitamins is a methodology created by Martin to help his clients leverage the work environment to motivate the staff and improve productivity. Clients include Ernst & Young, Bosch Rexroth, Nokia and Agnes b.
Pink Cow Connections #64: WorkVitamins, Bringing Perspective to the Office:
“Maximizing your working environment assets. Productive spaces to improve your business.”
Anyone who has worked for a typical Japanese corporation has horror stories to tell about the workplace. The rows and rows of small, steel desks with files and paper stacked above and below, the colour tones of Stalinist grey evenly distributed throughout the whole space except for the yellow smoking room , the artistic coffee stains on the carpet, the direct translation of the company’s hierarchy onto the design (buchos on the window, kachos on the end of each row, last hire at the end of the row), the blinds that are consistently closed and despite the top location of the office allow no views outside, etc.. etc… Is it any wonder that Japan has one of the world’s highest suicide rates? Studies have shown that the work environment has a significant influence on our well being. The work environment is business’ last frontier, as companies should stop to treat their work space as a warehouse crammed with stuff and staff. It is time to view the work environment as a powerful motivational tool to create a place where people enjoy working in, encourages communication and team work. The workplace can either hinder or encourage this.
During the presentation Martin will show an analysis of a typical office and the potential for change. He will explain about the methodology he created called WorkVitamins, which through a series of 5 steps has helped his clients to implement a work environment where work can actually be fun. At the end of the presentation he will also briefly discuss a book he is writing on the subject, including the growing influence that the internet has on our rapidly changing definition of what work is.
It is said that when you would put enough monkeys behind a typewriter in the end they would produce something like Shakespearian prose. According to a test done by Plymouth university giving six monkeys a computer and produced five pages of text, consisting of mainly the letter S, and later the letters A, J, L and M crept in. OK, ok, QED : monkeys don’t write works of shakespeare. So what do monkeys do in an office then? Well, Pan-kun, Japan’s favourite chimp does pretty much what many people do in the office: ignoring strangers, wasting paper, and trying to become invisible.
J@pan Inc asked my views on architecture of Japan and especially Tokyo. Although it is presented as if written by Jun Mitsui (I used to work for him), you can read the whole story here.
Jun Mitsui’s point that Japan is becoming a disposal ground, a toilet for foreign architects, is funny indeed, but I think rather outdated. Most of the interesting architecture in Japan these days comes from young Japanese architects, the days of foreign dumpings (potty training would be a better description), in my opinion are over. Don’t forget that most of the shit built here is by Japanese architects.
The new Peninsula, dumped according to the new colour regulations?
When we were expecting our first baby I bought a book called 10,001 baby names. For most high rise buildings here in Tokyo the owners (or whoever stick a name to the building) seem to have a list of 5 or 6 words that they then add the location of the building.
How very unoriginal. The list could go on for ever it seems. 4-5 story buildings are called Towers, and grey concrete buildings called Park or Garden.
Interestingly enough, sometimes a building is called after a location where it is not even build on.
